Wild Ride
by Sealgirl
Summary: COMPLETE. The kids finally get to the Cityport of Kilan, and find the wizard Krin. But will he be as helpful as they think?
1. A City that Never Sleeps

DISCLAIMER: I know I put one in here somewhere, um, just a sec… and I'll go see if I can find it.

STORY: Set after the story 'Hall of the Mountain King' but it is not necessary to read that story first as this is NOT a sequel.

RATING: PG13.

THANKS: Goes, as always, to all who reviewed my other stories, also to those fun people who have some of my stories tucked away in their favourite stories folders. And I tug my forelock in the direction of one Mistress R Scribbles: "For in this fic, thy challenge is met!"

* * *

WILD RIDE

Chapter 1  
A City that Never Sleeps

It was a relief to be out of the mountains and approaching real civilization again, and Hank the Ranger couldn't help a small buzz of anticipation, in spite of everything. They were well away from the hills and were walking down a very well-worn road towards a big city, that the signposts all said was Kilan.

It was the largest settlement they'd seen in a very long time, but it was difficult to make out any details from far away, as it was hidden behind tall, thick walls; only a few slender spires poked up high enough to be seen.

'It shouldn't take us long to get to the city gates,' he said, as brightly as he could. There were murmurs of agreement from his friends, but no one said anything specific in reply. That none of his friends bothered to reply didn't surprise the Ranger in the least. He'd been hard pushed to have a conversation with any of them since they'd left the mountain pass.

Ever since they had last seen Venger, it had been one thing after another: The Darkling (how had he managed to get himself captured in the first place?), Presto's little "incident" in Mindril, and those damn Troglodytes. Group moral was at its lowest ever, and they hadn't even missed a portal for weeks!

But in truth, one of the major problems was that they had no real idea what to do next. They had been told about a Wizard, Krin, but they had no clue where he was. But, considering the current situation, they would do well to find Krin as quickly as possible…_and maybe even home this time._ But there wasn't the usual surge of hope though him this time. _This will probably go wrong…it usually does._

His confidence had taken a severe battering since the Grotto of Darkness. It was his decision to cross the mountains rather than go round, and look what had happened. Since then, Presto and Eric had hardly spoken to each other. OK, so the Cavalier hadn't really spoken to anyone, but it was worrying; those two were best friends. And Sheila, too, seemed distant. She had walked next to her brother in silence over the past few days. Only Diana seemed cooperative, but she spent a great deal of her either time deep in conversation with Presto, or trying to coax a response out of the unusually taciturn Eric.

He looked round at his friends. They were all walking along the road in single file after him. Diana the Acrobat walked in front beside the Magician, Bobby the Barbarian was next, with his pet unicorn trailing morosely after, her nose almost scraping along on the ground. Sheila the Thief followed her younger brother closely. Finally, Eric the Cavalier was at the back, well out of the way. In an uncharacteristic bout of self-restraint, Eric had said very little about the Trogs, and they'd still had no explanation. Even when Hank had finally asked about it, the Cavalier just mimicked his own answer at the time, 'I thought you could tell without a description' and had walked off. His silence had only heightened the tension within the group and the others mostly just kept out of his way.

But the Ranger knew that, sooner or later, something had to happen. He just wished it would be sooner, so everything could go back to normal.

He smiled to himself: Normal? Here? In a strange world, so far from home? He was thinking as though tramping round this place, fighting Venger and missing portals was normal!

This time, they had another chance to get home. Days ago now, way back at the Grotto of Darkness, Dungeonmaster had told them that the Wizard Krin might be able to help them. _I hope he can, _thought Hank. _We need to get home, if we can._ He looked round once more at his morose friends. Each was locked in their own thoughts and it was obvious what they were thinking about: Home. Yes, they needed to find another portal soon, before they gave up all together.

_If only there was something more I could do_, he thought. _I'm the Leader, but I don't know how…_

'Greetings, my young Pupils,' said a voice by the road. It was a sad testament to their collective mood than they didn't even say his name.

'Hi,' managed Bobby after a few seconds. No one else spoke as they waited for the Cavalier to catch up. The old man waited patiently, ignoring the strained silence.

'Before you is the Cityport of Kilan,' said Dungeonmaster eventually. 'And in it resides the wizard Krin.'

Hank gave a heartfelt sigh. They were on the right track at last!

'Finally,' muttered Presto. 'Some good news!'

'Yes indeed, Magician,' said Dungeonmaster. 'It is good news. But you still have much to do, you must search the city for the Wizard, for he keeps himself to himself.'

'Don't you know where to find him?' asked Diana. 'That place looks huge!'

'Do not worry, Acrobat,' said their Guide. 'There are those in the city who pride themselves on their knowledge.'

'What do you mean?' asked Bobby.

The Dungeonmaster just smiled at the Barbarian.

'You must all be careful in Kilan, for it is a wild and dangerous place; a place ruled by those with power, and pride. And a place where trust is in very short supply.'

Hank was thinking that trust was in pretty short supply out here too, but chose not to say anything. Instead he glanced at the Cavalier, who was standing mutely at the back of the group. Maybe Eric would feel better with a city full of people to distract him.

'But how do we find Krin?' persisted Presto.

Dungeonmaster smiled at him.

'Ask someone who knows!'

This made the Ranger frown. These riddles were getting tiresome. Why couldn't they get some straight answers for once!

'Remember,' continued Dungeonmaster, 'in this City everything has its price. Everything!'

And with that, the old man disappeared.

No one spoke, and so Hank looked round at the others, forcing a smile onto his face.

'At least we know we're on the right track!' he said.

There was a brief, sullen silence, and Hank couldn't help noticing the look of worry across Sheila's face. A wave of despair hit him. He didn't know what to do this time, he couldn't do this all on his own. How was he going to keep them together and get them home, like this?

Then, suddenly, Diana spoke.

'Hank's right,' said the Acrobat, smiling up at their leader. 'We're on the right track. Finding Krin shouldn't be too hard, and then we can go home.'

She tugged Presto's arm and gave the young Barbarian a big grin. Hank grinned at her too, grateful that she had spoken.

'C'mon!' she continued ' When was the last time we got to go out on the town! I bet they have food there; good, hot food, not Eric's cooking!' Everyone (bar the Cavalier) smiled. 'And they'll have shops and inns and good places to sleep, and…'

'But we don't have any money!' Bobby reminded her.

Diana flicked her hand carelessly at him.

'You don't need money to enjoy yourself,' she said. 'It'll be fun!'

'We won't get a decent bed without money!' retorted Bobby.

'Oh, Presto'll come up with something!' said Diana. 'Won't you?'

The Magician looked worried at the prospect of using he Hat again, something which Hank found surprising. There had been a time when Presto had been eager to use the Hat at any and all opportunities. But since Mindril, he'd been extremely wary of it, and there was no sight that this was just a passing phase.

'Well,' started the Magician, 'I suppose I could see what the Hat can…'

'There you are,' said the Acrobat firmly. 'It's all taken care of! What are we waiting for!'

'Diana's right,' said Hank, grinning at the others. 'It's just what we need!'

Inside, he was beginning to feel much better, Diana's enthusiasm was infectious. She was right: this was a new place to explore, one that promised to be much more like his hometown. _Home…this was another chance to get back. They couldn't give up yet!_

'And don't forget,' he added, 'There's a Wizard in there that can send us home!'

This time, even Sheila smiled. She looked up into his eyes, and Hank smiled back, the ache in his heart easing slightly. He'd hated seeing her as miserable as she'd been over the past few days. They looked at each other intently, but before he could speak, she looked away.

'Mea-heh?' said the unicorn at Bobby's side. 'Bleah!'

Her master reached down to pet her main.

'It's OK, Uni,' the Barbarian told her. 'We'll take good care of you in the City!'

Uni pushed her head back against Bobby's hand, a big, unicorn smile on her face. The unicorn had never been keen on large, busy places and would undoubtedly stay very close to Bobby.

Diana walked over to Eric and carefully took his arm.

'C'mon, Cavalier, aren't you just a teeny bit excited too?'

He didn't reply, but made no move to pull away from her. The others turned too.

'A teeny-weeny bit?'

Again there was no reply, but Eric was turning slightly pink at all the attention.

'They'll have shops,' she said, 'and real food, and a nice, comfy bed…'

Eric finally gave a rueful smile.

'Well, I suppose…'

The Acrobat gave his arm a quick pull.

'Then let's get on with it! We have a Wizard to find!'

Following the Acrobat's lead, the group moved forward together, much more enthusiastic and animated than before; even the Cavalier tolerated a short conversation with Diana. So it was quite a while before Hank managed to talk to her on her own.

With Bobby and Presto walking ahead, and Hank fell into step beside her. She turned to give him a smile.

'A owe you one, Diana,' he whispered. 'Thanks!'

She nodded, and gave him a knowing smile.

'It's OK,' she replied. 'The past few days have been tough on us all.' She glanced to Sheila, then added. 'If you need to talk…'

He pursed his lips, desperately wanting to tell to her about his worries and fears, but unsure how to begin. She was always the one he could talk to; in many ways, she understood him better than Sheila did, and knew how seriously he took the responsibility of being the leader. Even though they hadn't had the chance to talk since leaving the Troglodyte's domain, she obviously understood how difficult he'd found the past few days, and how difficult he'd found making the decisions that had affected them all.

But this wasn't the right time. He didn't want the others, especially Bobby, overhearing how worried he'd been, and how he'd doubted himself; the Barbarian looked up to him so much, and he couldn't let him down. Besides, there would be time enough soon.

So they walked on side-by-side, and it took them almost the whole morning to get to Kilan. Buoyed up by Diana's enthusiasm, Hank was looking forward to the opportunity to explore a new city. It was one of the things he missed most about his home world. Mindril was OK, but it was small compared to what they had been used to on Earth. Kilan was a huge place, possibly bigger than Darkhaven.

But as they came closer to the City walls, the Ranger slowly grew more uneasy. He could see the thick, imposing city-wall almost like it was a dam, holding back the people inside that were ready to burst out at any moment. None of the others were affected by the Ranger's uneasiness, and he didn't want to spoil the relative good mood by mentioning it to anyone. Then, he noticed Diana and the almost hidden look of worry across her face. She could feel it too.

'What's up?' he asked. 'Is there something wrong?'

She gave a small frown.

'I know what I said, that it would be fun,' she replied, 'But now, so close… I'm not so sure.'

He smiled at the irony; the ones who'd encouraged the others were now having second thoughts! Diana smiled back.

'I know, I know!' she said. 'But that place looks creepy!'

As they approached, the others started to look nervous too. Each one of them was casting looks at him that asked: Do you know what you're doing? Hank would have expected someone to say it out loud, and he looked at the Cavalier. But Eric just avoided meeting his eye.

They made their way round to the main gate, where there was a short queue of peasants waiting, each laden with wares for sale in the City Markets, and the Guards questioned everyone who approached.

Eager to see what awaited them inside, Hank looked past the Guards to the street beyond. It was full of the bustle of city life, people with baskets and bags, people always on the move. Apart from the clothes, it wasn't so very different from home, but Hank noticed the bars on the windows, and the spikes on the wall. He shivered, thinking about what Dungeonmaster had said: "Trust is in very short supply". Why couldn't they get something easy to do? _Why can we never get home?_

Then it was their turn. The Guard took one look at their clothes (and lack of sacks, bundles or any other means of carrying goods for sale) and scowled.

'Adventurer's Tax' said the Guard loudly, holding his hand out and looking at the Acrobat with a suspicious smile.

'But we don't have anything,' said Diana.

The Guard gave a crude laugh.

'You sure about that, darlin'?'

Hank stepped between them.

'VERY sure.'

The Guard gave him a dark look.

'You gonna sell them weapons, then?' the Guard asked.

'Of course we're not,' said Sheila. 'Wh…'

'Adventurer's tax!' he shouted, holding out his hand.

They weren't going to stoop so low as bribery, were they? Hank frowned, not liking the implications.

'Bribes?' said Sheila, with an accusing tone. 'We're gonna use bribes?'

'Adventurer's tax!' said the Guard, a lot more firmly. 'Either pay up or push off!'

'Yes, but we were told to…'

'No exceptions! Not for the likes of you!'

The situation was getting out of control. That Guard wasn't gonna let them in at all, and then how would they find Krin? He had to do something and, in desperation, Hank turned to Presto.

'See what you can do,' he said, even though the Magician was not looking happy about the request.

Presto slowly lifted the Hat, a deep frown on his face. Behind them, there was a murmur of interest, as others in the line stopped talking and moved to watch what was happening.

Hank looked back at the group of hard, inquisitive faces behind them, and was suddenly reminded of the people from Varla's home village. They had turned on them all so quickly. One moment it was calm, then they'd changed into an angry mob in an instant. The same could easily happen here.

Pausing for a few seconds, Presto furrowed his brow then said slowly:

'We need something for the guard…'

The Hat glowed, and Hank noticed Presto screw up his eyes, either in concentration or in pain. But he didn't get a chance to worry about the Magician. That Guard was giving Presto a very worrying look; a mix of fear and suspicion, and it was a look that made Hank even more anxious.

'You a… wizard… then?' asked the Guard.

Presto didn't reply, just handed a small lump of copper to the Ranger with a soft sigh. The Guard looked at the nugget as Hank held it out, then suddenly grabbed it and gave it a good, hard bite. There was a moment of tense silence, and Hank was sure they were about to get themselves thrown out.

'What you lot waitin' for? Invitations?' The Guard jerked his head to the side 'Push off!'

Bobby lifted his Club, a scowl on his face, but Hank and Sheila urged him on. The last thing they need was to draw more attention to themselves.

The group move forward as quickly as they could, just in case the Guard changed his mind and only stopped to have a look around once they were out of sight of the gate.

Last time they had been in a City of such size was Darkhaven, and they'd had that place all to themselves. The street they were in was teeming with people, always on the move. Down each side were lines of traders, each displaying their wares; everything they could imagine from simple breads to exotic and dangerous pets. In the middle was a steady stream of potential customers, and the competition for their attention was fierce.

Hank glanced around, the anxiety of earlier back at full force, compounded by the whisper of Dungeonmaster's warning: _You must all be careful in the Kilan, for it is a wild and dangerous place. And a place where trust is in very short supply._

How were they even gonna start looking for Krin? There must be tens of thousands of people in the city, maybe more. How were they just gonna find one out of so many?

'Where do we start?' said Sheila, turning round to gaze up at him. 'Don't they have a map or something?'

Hank had to shrug.

'I… I'm not sure.'

No one said anything, and the Ranger had that familiar, despairing feeling that he'd had so often since the Grotto of Darkness. He was the leader, he was supposed to know what he was doing, he was supposed to take charge and, well, lead!

'I'm not sure,' he repeated, 'but we should try and get further into the city.'

'But where are we goin'?' asked the Barbarian.

Hank pointed, up the road the way most people seemed to be heading.

'That way.'

No one argued, not even the Cavalier, and that was something Hank found disturbing. He would have brooded on it longer, but he soon discovered that he needed all his concentration just to push his way through the milling crowd.

As they moved up the street, it became worse; hot, crowded and suffocating. He'd thought he could cope with any City, but he'd only been here a short while and already he couldn't wait to leave. Also difficult was trying to keep track of all his friends. At the start they were all together. But slowly, they became separated and the random movements of people dispersed them.

Down the sides of the street, street vendors tried to attract the attention of the hundreds of potential customers that moved past. It was almost impossible to get past them all, but it helped that he had no money!

Finally, Hank moved over to a narrow lane, signalling for the others to follow. Bobby had picked up Uni, and was holding her tightly under his arm. The unicorn cuddled into Bobby, looking around in fear. She hated being in this place, Hank could tell, and she wasn't the only one. Sheila wasn't looked happy either.

'Hey, guys!'' said Bobby anxiously. 'Someone wanted to buy Uni, they were gonna give me five gold coins for her!'

Again, Hank expected a caustic comeback from the Cavalier, but Sheila spoke instead.

'Don't worry Bobby, we'll all be looking after her!'

'Meeey' said the unicorn softy, her pink eyes wide.

Hank gave Uni a reassuring pat too and smiled at the Barbarian.

'Yes, we'll all keep a close eye on her!' he said.

'Well,' said Diana. 'What will we do now?'

That was getting to be a question Hank dreaded. He didn't have all the answers.

'Dungeonmaster said to ask people who would know,' said Presto. 'But who would know who to ask?'

'This is getting confusing,' said Bobby with a sigh. 'What are we gonna do?'

'Should we split up, Hank?' asked the Acrobat. 'It might be better, and we might have more chance of finding Krin.'

The Ranger shook his head. The last thing he wanted to do was let any of his friends out of his sight. This place felt, well… creepy was an understatement. And the last time they'd had to split up was a disaster! His friends needed him to take control and find a way out of this maze of people.

'No,' he said firmly. 'We all stick together.'

On the opposite side of the street, the Ranger noticed a small tavern that was just opening for the afternoon and the Innkeeper was by the door. Outside it, a couple of the regulars already had their noses in the first mug of the day.

Hank flashed a grin at his friends. After all, they had to ask someone sometime!

'Wait here,' he told them, and started to make his way over, trying not to wonder if this was a good idea.

At first the two men ignored his approach, and the Ranger felt compelled to speak first.

'Hello,' said Hank with a smile. 'I as wondering if you could help me.' The one on the left gave a sniff that the Ranger ignored. 'I'm looking for a wizard…'

The other, older one sniffed too then replied:

'New around here, are you?'

Hank nodded.

'What you doin', looking for a wizard, then?'

Hank looked from one to another, aware of their amusement at his question and now wishing he'd never come over. He hated being treated like this.

'Me and my friends,' he nodded towards the others, 'were told to find a wizard here.'

The two men exchanged knowing looks and Hank's annoyance went up once more.

'Find a wizard? Whatever makes you think you'll find one o' them 'ere?'

The Ranger struggled to keep his temper at the condescending smiles.

'We're looking for a specific wizard, he's call…'

The older man held up his hand.

'Look, son, it's obvious you're new, so I'll tell you this for free. Go to the Guild!'

He jerked his head to the left, towards an even busier street.

Hank was confused, but the two men looked away, indicating that the conversation was now finished. The Ranger mumbled his thanks, but neither looked back at him.

'What was THAT about?' asked Sheila as Hank walked back over. 'Did they help?'

'I don't know,' replied Hank. 'They told me to find the Guild. That way.' He pointed.

'Guild?' echoed Presto. 'Did they say anything else, like where it was?'

Hank shook his head. But thinking back, there had been something else about that conversation. Again, it was the reaction to the word "wizard". Perhaps there was more going on in this city that they'd thought.

'Are we gonna take their advice?' asked Diana. 'Dungeonmaster did say that everything had a price…'

'I think they've been paid,' said Presto, motioning to the men, who were now having a good laugh, most likely at Hank's expense

The Ranger paid it no attention, he was looking around the streets again, trying to make some sort of sense of what was going on. He thought back to what Dungeonmaster had said about the city: _It is a wild and dangerous place; a place ruled by those with power, and pride._

Wild and dangerous; ruled by those with power and pride: Perhaps, ruled by the Guild? It made some sort of sense, but a Guild of what?

His gaze fell on the Hat. _Magic…_

'What if it's a Guild of Wizards,' he said suddenly.

'Well… I suppose,' said Diana warily. 'It might.'

But Hank was certain. Everything tied together; the Guard's attitude, the reaction of the old men, and Dungeonmaster's riddle.

'I must be,' insisted Hank. 'And Krin must be one of the wizards there!'

'So,' said Bobby, 'we find the Guild and we find Krin?'

'And we find a way home!' finished Diana.

'But aren't Guilds supposed to be secret?' asked Sheila.

Hank shook his head.

'If those men know about it, it must be common knowledge.'

'But that still doesn't get us any closer to finding it!' insisted Sheila.

'Well, it's gotta be around here somewhere!' said Hank. 'We'll just have to keep on looking. So let's go!'

At least they had something to look for now, and they all moved off again, in the direction the men had told him. They kept much closer together, and Bobby kept Uni under his arm and stayed close to the Ranger.

This new street was busier, but there were less tradesmen down the sides. Instead, real shops had taken their place, and Hank had to resist the temptation to stop and look in the windows. Both girls cast long glances around the street, but they kept up with the others.

They seemed to walk up the same road for an age. It slowly curved round, and eventually Hank started to wonder if they'd just gone in one big circle.

Then Presto suddenly pointed.

'Look over there!' he said.

Hank and the others stopped and looked across the road. There was a narrow lane, where nobody seemed to go. Hank tried to call them back, but the Magician had already started towards it, and the others followed.

The Ranger immediately felt uneasy as they started down the lane. This was a place of calm, so different from the harsh bustle of the city. But there was also something else, something that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Then he turned the corner at the end, and stopped dead, staring, as did all the others.

'Wow!' whispered Bobby. 'That's… just… Wow!'

* * *


	2. All in the Eye

Chapter 2

All in the Eye

Even after the wonders of the Realm they'd seen, Hank had to admit that this was going to be difficult to top. It wasn't just bizarre: it was impossible.

'Is… is that even a building?' asked Presto. 'I don't think I've ever seen anything like it!'

Hank stared ahead. There was no real doubt that this was indeed the Guild of Magic in Kilan, but accepting what it was and looking at the actual structure were two entirely different things.

Even in the Realm, where you got used to flying horses, men with wings and a vast array of strange places, this would have to stand out as the oddest. At first glance, it was just what you would expect from a normal building; ornate walls, smooth curved roof, turrets, a couple of towers and lots of panel windows. But after the first second of familiarity, realisation struck. The perspective didn't match; walls disappeared into other walls, only to reappear at a different angle; windows stretched the wrong way. Trying to make sense of it just didn't work! It shouldn't even stand up! And if you looked at one point for too long, your head began to ache.

Blinking didn't seem to help so, to ease the strain on his eyes, Hank glanced at his friends. Even Eric had been shocked out of his sulky mood, and was staring, open-mouthed.

'Escher on a bad day!' murmured the Cavalier.

'It makes my head hurt!' said Bobby. 'I think my eyes are broken!'

Beside him, Uni looked up, obviously wondering what all the fuss was about. She didn't seemed bothered by the building at all.

'Um, how do you think we get in?' asked Diana. 'Can you see a door?'

'You really wanna go in there?' asked the Barbarian. 'What if we don't come out the same as we went in?'

'But we still have to find Krin,' said Diana. 'Right, Hank?'

Hank nodded, wondering what their next move should be. Obviously, they couldn't stand around staring at that visual monstrosity all day, but he had the distinct feeling getting into this place wouldn't be easy.

There were footsteps behind them, and he turned to see a tall, blonde man coming up the lane behind them. He was obviously a Wizard; as if the red robes weren't a give away, he also carried a long, metal staff that glowed a dull red at the top.

He seemed distracted to begin with, but jolted to a stop when he saw the six kids staring at him.

'Hello,' said Hank quickly, seeing a look of anger and surprise flit over the man's face. 'We were looking fo…'

'Who are you?' demanded the Wizard crossly. 'What are you doing, defiling this place!'

'Well, ya see, we…' started Bobby.

'Silence, child!' The Barbarian looked shocked at the sharpness of tone, and made no other sound. The man then turned to glare at Hank. 'You; you may answer!'

Under the man's heavy stare, Hank gulped, Dungeonmaster's warning loud in his ears: _You must all be careful in Kilan, for it is a wild and dangerous place; a place ruled by those with power, and pride. And a place where trust is in very short supply._

This Wizard looked as though the only help he would give them would be directions to the nearest City Gate!

'We're looking for a Wizard,' he said. The expression didn't change. 'A Wizard called Krin…' added Hank.

Again, the expression didn't change.

'We were hoping… someone might be able… to tell us… where he is.'

The Wizard continued to stare at Hank.

'Dungeonmaster sent us,' said the Ranger in desperation. There had to be some way of getting this man to help! And mentioning their Guide had helped before.

'I should have known he'd have more Pupils!' snapped the Wizard. 'What joy! Well, don't think that just because you carry magic weapons, you're entitled to entrance into Our Guild!'

Hank felt his anger rising. What were they supposed to do in the face of such blank hostility? He didn't know what this man wanted from them. He didn't even know who he was! He took a deep breath. Perhaps they should try a different tactic.

'My name's Hank,' he said with a friendly smile. 'Who are you?'

For a second, Hank thought that the new plan had backfired, as the Wizard looked vaguely annoyed that he'd not been recognised. But he eventually replied:

'I am Meylar, the Wizard of Trans-species Interlocutation.'

'Uh?' said Bobby. 'Trans-what?'

'Ignorant child!' replied Meylar curtly. 'Dungeonmaster must have let his standards slip!'

'It means he talks to animals,' said Presto, earning him a gracious nod from the other Wizard.

'Crudely put, young Magician, but accurate nonetheless. And perhaps you are not as unworthy as you at first appear.'

Presto smiled at the praise, the first proper smile he'd given in ages.

'So, do you know Krin?' interrupted Diana. 'Can you help us?'

A look of distrust and suspicion at the mention of that name crossed Meylar's face so quickly, that Hank didn't think the others noticed it.

'That is not for me to say, young lady,' he replied. The Wizard paused, and seemed to be thinking. 'But perhaps it would be best if you talked with Shawn. Come with me!'

Meylar walked off towards the impossible Guild, and Hank glanced round at his friends. This was their opportunity to get in, but there was something about this situation that made him uneasy. Actually, he'd been uneasy since getting to Kilan, and going into that Guild was not going to make it any better. But they had to find Krin…_maybe even get home…_

'Do we really have to go in there?' asked Bobby in a whining tone that was usually the exclusive preserve of the Cavalier. 'All of us?'

'What else can we do?' he asked them. 'At least Meylar seems to know Krin. We must be getting close!'

The two girls gave rueful nods, as did Bobby. Presto seemed less perturbed, and was watching Meylar as he walked on ahead. Eric didn't offer an opinion, but the look on his face suggested he would rather go back to the mountains than follow the Wizard into the Guild.

'Well, c'mon then!' said Hank. 'Let's just get this over with as quickly as possible!'

He turned and led them after Meylar.

The closer they got to the building, the more difficult it became to look at, and they all kept their heads down, except the unicorn who strutted ahead, unfazed. Meylar lead them round a couple of "corners" that didn't seem much like any corners Hank had ever experienced before, and towards a door that seemed to bee too small to get through.

'I feel sick,' said the Thief by his side. 'Is this a good idea?'

'It will be OK,' said Hank, slipping his arm across her shoulders. She leaned into his embrace briefly, making Hank smile with pleasure. He'd missed her company over the past few days since they'd left the mountains, and maybe things could back to normal soon.

But too quickly for Hank's liking, they were confronted by the solid door, now the correct height to get through. Meylar knocked once, and it swung open with a faint whoosh.

The Wizard strode in without hesitation, and Hank moved to follow next. But, at the edge, he stopped. He didn't need any familiarity with magic to sense that this was obviously a place of Power, and had the frightening feeling that getting out of there wouldn't be as straightforward as getting in.

We have to get home…he thought. We have to find Krin and get home! 

The thought of seeing his family again helped him move forward into the Guild.

It was a surprise to find it so quiet and so cool inside. After the mental stress of looking at it from the outside, he had expected it to be the same on the inside. But it wasn't. It had a similar feel to the school library; silent and calm, and empty. The others all followed him in and the door whooshed shut behind them. There was the faintest click of a lock.

The gang followed Meylar down a short hall and at the end, in front of three heavy doors, he signalled them to stop.

'You will wait here,' the Wizard told them, and disappeared through the door to the left.

Hank looked around slowly, unable to shake the creepy feeling that they were being watched. The hallway was dark and plainly decorated; there were no pictures on the walls, or furniture, except a single table with a lit candle on it. It was cold, still and very quiet, and he couldn't shake the feeling that they weren't welcome. The others seemed to feel the same. Sheila was still standing close to him, her cloak pull round to keep herself warm. Diana seemed as unfazed as usual, except the way she had her Javelin ready. Bobby was petting Uni, more for his own comfort than hers, it seemed. The only one who seemed relatively relaxed was Presto. He was looking around with great intent, but Hank couldn't see what we so interesting.

They waited in silence for a number of minutes, before there was the scrape of a lock and the door on the right swung open.

The man who stepped through was an imposing figure, even though he wasn't quite as tall as the Ranger. He wore lush purple robes and a hood that covered most of his head. In his hand he carried a long staff like Meylars, except it had an ornate top and was made of burnished gold. Behind the Wizard was a young manservant with a feminine-looking smile.

The Wizard look his time looking round at the group, and Hank had to fight the urge to straighten up his tunic and brush the dust from his sleeves. Then the man noticed the unicorn, and his demeanour changed.

'I'm sorry,' he said, not sounding like he mean it, 'we don't buy livestock from unapproved vendors.'

The Barbarian looked furious, and hugged Uni close.

'She's not for sale!' said Hank indignantly.

The Wizard looked totally confused.

'Well, why did you bring it, if you weren't going to sell it?'

'She's our pet!' said the Acrobat, crossing her arms.

'How very strange,' the man said. 'So, why are you here?'

'Didn't Meylar tell you?' asked Diana.

The Wizard gave a soft snort, but didn't reply.

'We're looking for Krin,' said Hank. 'Dungeonmaster sent us to find him.'

'Really? You're looking for Krin?'

The man seemed amused now, and the Ranger didn't like it. They looked eye to eye for a second, then the Wizard carefully handed his staff to his servant, who staggered under the weight, and had to use both hands to keep it from toppling over. The Ranger stared. At first, he'd assumed the staff was painted gold, but watching the servant struggle, he suddenly realised it was probably solid gold all the way through.

'My name is Shawn,' said the Wizard with a slight bow. 'And who might you be?'

'We are pupils of Dungeonmaster,' said Hank.

Shawn glanced down at the magic weapon in Hank's hand.

'And you are the Ranger, young man?' he asked.

Hank nodded, and Shawn gave a slow smile.

'So you are Dungeonmaster's Star Pupils? And in this Guild too!'

Unable to tell if the Wizard was being sarcastic or not, Hank thought it prudent to assume the best, and smiled back.

'And why would Dungeonmaster's star pupils be looking for Krin, and looking for him here? Did the Dungeonmaster send you to the Guild?'

Everybody was looking at Hank; he could sense it. After all, it had been his idea to come to the Guild in the first place.

'Not really,' said the Ranger. 'Dungeonmaster didn't tell us where to find Krin… just to ask someone who would know. And since Krin's a Wizard, we thought another Wizard might know.'

'I see,' said Shawn. 'And Meylar gave you leave to enter?'

This time, Hank paused before answering. He couldn't tell if the Wizard was angry or not, or why he was asking the question in the first place.

'Meylar wouldn't tell us anything about Krin.' That at least was safe to say. 'And he said we should talk to you.'

That answer seemed to please Shawn, and he gave a more open smile.

'What you say is very interesting, Ranger.'

'Can you help us?' asked the Barbarian eagerly.

'Perhaps.'

As Shawn looked round at the others, Hank wondered what the Wizard was thinking. It was difficult to tell what this man might do. Once again, Dungeonmaster's riddle came back to him: _You must all be careful in Kilan, for it is a wild and dangerous place; a place ruled by those with power, and pride. And a place where trust is in very short supply. _

Certainly, Shawn didn't seem to trust them, but then he had also acknowledged that he did know a Wizard called Krin. Finding out where Krin was, and how to find him; that was going to be the awkward bit!

_In this City everything has its price…_and who knows what price Shawn would ask.

He was a Wizard, and seemed to be in charge of this particular Guild, but that made it all the more difficult to guess what he'd want. Perhaps the price would be too high. The Ranger glanced down at the unicorn. Judging by Shawn's reaction to her, the price could be almost anything!

'But why did Dungeonmaster send you to find Krin?' asked Shawn.

There was no reason not to tell the Wizard that they were looking for a way home, but Hank didn't feel like sharing that piece of information at the moment. They needed some sort of bargaining point in case…

'He can send us home,' announced the Barbarian. The Ranger could only hope that Shawn was so surprised by the revelation that he didn't notice his look of annoyance.

'Home?' said Shawn. 'A portal?'

Hank nodded, trying not to look disappointed.

'Dungeonmaster thinks Krin can open a portal? How interesting!'

Again, Hank felt the advantage slipping away from them. They needed Shawn to help them, but they were giving away too much information too easily. He felt a flicker of a smile on his lips. He was getting paranoid in this place! They had always been open and friendly before. Why should this city make them behave differently? _It is a place where trust is in very short supply. _But even so, they had to be trustworthy to be trusted.

'Will you tell us where Krin is?' asked Hank.

Shawn pondered the question, looking directly at Hank all the time.

'You must understand,' said the Wizard, 'I cannot just "tell" you anything. This is the Guild of Magic, and the Wizards within have the right to privacy.'

Shawn looked at the expressions of disappointment on their faces and added:

'But I _may_ be able to point you along the correct path… for a price.' That was the word Hank knew was coming: Price. It could be anything. 'You see, we in the Guild study magic, in all its manifestations. You, as the Star Pupils of Dungeonmaster have encountered magic in a great many forms, and we would be honoured if you would share some of that… experience.'

Shawn looked at Hank expectantly, and the Ranger gave a nod.

'Thank you,' replied the Wizard, but the smile told Hank that this was what Shawn had wanted all along. Perhaps it had even been planned. _You're getting paranoid again!_

'I will arrange for you each to be interviewed, separately.'

Hank opened his mouth to disagree, but Shawn just looked at him.

'You have nothing to fear from us, Ranger!' he said. 'We merely wish to understand more about you, and your weapons, and your adventures. Different Wizards will wish to ask different questions.'

'I'm going with my brother,' said Sheila, glaring at the Wizard with the Big-Sister look that she rarely used on other people, and Hank knew she wasn't going to back down.

'Aw, c'mon sis,' said Bobby. 'I don't need looking after!'

Sheila ignored him, still looking at Shawn. The Wizard stared back, his face almost blank. But Hank thought he's seen a fleeting glimmer of anger at Sheila and her brother.

'As a show of good faith, so it shall be, Thief,' said Shawn. He held out his hand to the side.

'Bob!' The young, round-face servant behind Shawn which the Ranger had forgotten about, hefted the staff back into Shawn's grip. 'Bob, bring Melor and Rimush, maybe Wrene as well, if you can find her.'

The boy scurried off, out of one of the doors.

'And you, Ranger. You will come with me.'

Shawn took a step back, and gestured towards another door.

'What? Now?'

'Yes, Ranger.'

'But…'

'Your friends will wait here.'

It wasn't a request, and Shawn turned. Hank looked back at the others.

'We should be ok, Hank,' said Diana, trying her best not to look worried. 'You'd better go!'

So, giving his friends a shrug and a smile, Hank followed Shawn out of the hall.

* * *

Diana watched as Hank and the Wizard walked off and as the door clicked behind the Ranger, silence once again ruled. She shifted uneasily. There was something unnerving about being left without Hank and going off on their own with strange Wizards.

As they waited, the Acrobat found herself wondering what was going to happen next. She didn't usually dwell on her anxieties, but this was an extraordinary place and she could sense something… well, strange was the best way of putting it. It was magical, yes, but that wasn't what was bothering her; after all, she had felt magic before. There was something unusual about the magic in this place, as if it was in constant flux. She knew the others sensed something odd too, in their own way.

She had seen Hank's reaction when Bobby had blurted out their reason for needing Krin; and Sheila, though usually protective of her brother, hadn't even wanted him out of her sight. For his part, the Barbarian had given in MUCH more easily than normal. Even Presto, the one with the most experience of magic, had been constantly fidgeting with his Hat, something he only did if he was nervous. Finally, Eric stood hunched up behind his Shield. In silence! Now that could never be normal behaviour for the Cavalier!

They didn't have to wait for long before a Wizard, who introduced himself as Melor appeared. He was a good head taller than Shawn, and dressed in green robes that were similar to the Magician's, but less grubby and threadbare. This Wizard looked very excited at meeting Presto, and greeting him with a big smile and a hearty handshake.

'So, you are Dungeonmaster's Magician!' he said. 'How exciting!'

Presto smiled, and turned red. It had been a very long while since anyone had been that pleased to meet him, or that interested in his "magic".

They were already in quiet conversation as they walked off.

'I wonder who's next,' said Diana softly.

No one replied, but they were all thinking the same thing and Sheila took a small step closer to her brother.

A female wizard dressed in red robes arrived next, less than half a minute after Presto had left. She smiled sweetly at Sheila and Bobby and ushered them out, with Uni tucked safely under her master's arm.

That left Diana alone with the Cavalier.

He still didn't say anything, and that was really starting to worry the Acrobat. Under any other circumstances, you wouldn't have been able to shut Eric up.

'Hey,' she said after a couple of minutes. He looked round at her, and Diana was pleased. At least he stopped staring blankly at the walls to look at her, but now she had to try and continue the conversation. She had to stifle a smile. She knew of one sure-fire way of getting the Cavalier to respond. 'Do you think Dungeonmaster knew we'd come here?'

Now, usually the mention of the old man would have been enough to get Eric into full rant-mode but, this time, the Cavalier just shrugged.

'I don't know,' he said. But the way he said it told her exactly what he meant: _I don't care._ And he looked so uncomfortable, and so unhappy that Diana couldn't help asking:

'Look, Eric. Are you gonna be ok?'

'I-I don't know that either,' he said after a long pause. Diana just waited. She knew him well enough to realise that he needed someone to listen. 'I… don't really know what…'

'Hello there!' said a bright voice behind them. They both turned, Diana cursing this Wizard's timing! 'I am Rimush.'

He looked at Diana, his eyes seeming to shine from within, and he motioned her to follow.

'Shall we go?'

Diana glanced back at the Cavalier.

'What about Eric?'

'Well… I don't know. But I'm sure Shawn hasn't forgotten about him,' said Rimush. 'And we must go.'

Diana tried to give the Cavalier a grin as he left, but Eric just looked away, the blank expression back on his face.

'The Cavalier seems most uncooperative,' observed the Wizard by her side as the door shut behind them.

'It's a kind of trademark.'

'I'm surprised you tolerate such behaviour.'

Diana frowned at him, and the Wizard seemed to realise he'd said something wrong.

'"Tolerate"? He's our friend!'

'I didn't mean to offend you, Acrobat.'

They walked together in silence along some more corridors, then out a huge double door into the gardens, Diana slowly letting her anger subside. Yes, Eric was a jerk, and annoying, and inconsiderate, (and the rest!) but he was her friend, and after everything that had happened recently, she wasn't gonna let some stranger think otherwise!

'These are the Guild gardens,' said Rimush, leading her round a wide shallow pool. Diana glanced round politely, thinking that the gardens of Zinn were much nicer. They walked round and sat on a bench by the pool's edge.

'Please, forgive my rudeness, Acrobat.' Rimush held up his hand as a sign of apology. 'I am the Wizard of Demonlore and it is an honour to meet you, Child of Light.'

She barely had time to hear the words before the painful memories came flooding back. Being called that name, out of the blue, caught her completely off guard. It had been such a long time since anyone had called her that, and she had tried very hard to forget.

'My name is Diana,' she managed. 'Not… the child, of anything.'

'But it is who you are,' said Rimush reasonably.

Diana turned to glare, with the intention of telling him exactly where he go, but she didn't.

Firstly, he was right, in a way. She was the Child of Light, the one who had saved then thousand souls who waited in terror, and nothing would ever change that fact. But also, she suddenly realised this man knew exactly who she was. And it was likely that the Wizards all knew much more about the group than they had let on before.

Once Shawn had discovered they were Dungeonmaster's "Star" pupils, his whole attitude had changed. Over that past few months, everywhere they had gone, they had been recognised at some point, why had she though Kilan would be different?

She realised Rimush was watching her.

'Once again, I am sorry,' he said. 'I did not mean to cause you sorrow.'

Forcing herself to smile, she said:

'I'm fine. I'm just not used to being called that.'

'Do you mind if I ask you about Turad?' he said gently, and Diana felt compelled to nod, even though it was the last thing she wanted to think about at the moment. In the back of her mind, she heard Dungeonmaster's words: _in this City everything has its price._ Was this the price of going home this time? To be reminded and questioned about the best and worse day of her whole life?

They talked for the main part of the afternoon about Turad but fortunately, while Rimush was interested in all her experiences, he was much more interested in the Demon Queen herself.

And after he had asked her about Turad, the conversation moved on to other creatures, like the Nightwalker and the Darkling. It was almost easy to forget who she was talking too as Rimush was a good listener, and seemed very interested in all their adventures.

But he kept asking questions, asking her opinion of places and people in a way she found difficult not to answer. They talked for a long while, Diana wasn't able to keep track of the time, but she had never felt so drained by a conversation before.

Being a Demonologist, Rimush was mostly interested in the creatures and the Demons they had met on their travels, but he also kept asking about Presto's Hat. He did it so subtly that Diana didn't notice at first, and it was only when Rimush asked the same question about two different spells, did Diana realise. After that, she was much more guarded about what she said.

The Wizard never showed any signs of running out of questions, but the afternoon was drawing to a close, and the Acrobat sensed he was trying to rush through to get everything asked in time. So, tired of being given the third degree, she waited for her chance to turn the tables on him.

He had just asked her about the Tower of the Celestial Knights, and she'd told him about the feeling of power that seemed to radiate from the stones.

'Ah,' said Rimush wistfully, 'magic like that gets everywhere within the building.'

'Like the Guild?' said Diana, sensing her opportunity.

He nodded, looking pleased to be asked.

'Yes, the Guild is like that. Surely you, of all people, could feel the power within?'

Diana nodded. 'Its power is such that no mere structure can contain it!'

'Is that why it looked so… strange, outside?'

'Yes,' replied the Wizard. 'the stress on the building itself is immense, as the magic here is both good and evil. It cannot be otherwise.'

Diana frowned.

'I don't understand.'

Rimush smiled at her, mistaking her confusion for alarm.

'There is no need for you to understand. We Wizards, together, are in complete control.'

Diana might not have had to deal with magic herself very often, but she'd seen enough from her friends to know that no one was ever "in control" when it came to using magic. She just had to find out more!

'Together?'

It took a short while for Rimush to answer, as if he'd realised he'd said too much, and couldn't get out of answering without sounding rude.

'It takes our combined power to hold the magic here,' he said. The Wizard now looked uncomfortable with the way the conversation was heading and, in spite of the friendly nature of the interview, Diana couldn't help feeling a little pleased not to be on the receiving end of the awkward questions.

'But isn't one of you in charge? Isn't Shawn?'

Rimush gave a sly smile.

'Yes, Shawn does like to think he runs this place. But in reality, no one Wizard is powerful enough.'

'Oh,' said Diana quietly. Her instincts about people were rarely wrong, and even though Rimush sounded like he was being truthful you could never really tell with Wizards. And there was definitely something else about the magic here that he wasn't gonna tell her about.

The Acrobat didn't get a chance to ask anything else, as the clear chime of a bell echoed round the gardens, making the Wizard jump.

'Oh, well, that's that then. It's time to go!'

He stood looking slightly unsettled. Diana was too, but she still had one question left, that she needed an answer to.

'So, do you know where Krin is?' she asked as she rose.

Rimush shook his head.

'I know little about that man,' he said. 'But I do know that he is dangerous. Very, very dangerous!' He pursed his lips before adding: 'To willingly seek his help, one must be close to desperation!'

With that, he walked off, towards the Guild.

_Is that what we are? _she thought. _Desperate?_

She watched him for a couple of seconds, then followed him back into the Guild.

* * *


	3. Dreams of Love and Death

Chapter 3

Dreams of Love and Death.

'Why don't you come in, Ranger,' said the Wizard, carefully placing his gold staff in its proper stand by the door.

Hank looked round the room Shawn had led him to, vaguely surprised. It was just as full as he'd expected; magical objects and thick Spellbooks lined the walls, not leaving many spaces. But every object, down to the thinnest wand, was neatly labelled and positioned. Nothing seemed to be out of place. It was almost creepy to see someone so organised, especially a Wizard! Hank had always had the impression that Wizards were, by nature, untidy people.

Shawn retrieved a large book from his otherwise bare table, and motioned Hank to sit down at one of the seats by the window. Looking out over the gardens, the Ranger could see a large, round pond and a few unkempt flowerbeds that were criss-crossed by narrow paths. Shawn was concentrating on the book in front of him, so Hank continued to look down. As he watched, Diana and another Wizard walked out into towards one of the few seats by the pond. Neither seemed comfortable with the other's presence, the Acrobat in particular. The Wizard next to her seemed to say something wrong, as Diana's expression changed to one of…

'So, Ranger!' said Shawn suddenly. Hank jerked his head round, to find the man staring. How long had the Wizard been watching him? 'Shall we begin…?'

It was the most unpleasant and uncomfortable afternoon Hank had ever spent in the Realm, even counting all the times they had been chased or attacked or captured.

It wasn't that Shawn was unfriendly. It wasn't even the tone of the conversation; but the constant questioning, one question after another, with almost no time to think.

The questions started off general: "have you been to"; "have you met". But gradually they became more specific, and Shawn kept pushing him to remember things he'd almost forgotten about, tiny details he was expected to know. It was like some sort of High School test, where you were given no warning, and no time to prepare. And every so often, the Wizard would give him that little smile.

Always at the back of Hank's mind was Dungeonmaster's warning: _You must all be careful in Kilan, for it is a wild and dangerous place; a place ruled by those with power, and pride. And a place where trust is in very short supply. _So, at first, he tried to be on his guard, and only tell Shawn as much as he needed to know, but as the afternoon slowly wore on, he began to make slips, saying things that weren't strictly necessary, or even things that he didn't want to tell the Wizard at all! He got the distinct impression that there were two sides to Shawn and Hank didn't particularly want to confide in either of them. But sometimes, there was no other option.

They mostly talked of their adventures, with Shawn taking notes in his book, but now and again, the Wizard would launch into a long monologue about some trivial aspect of Realm lore or history; and always finish with a penetrating question for Hank to struggle with.

But not all of these monologues were boring; after Shawn had quizzed him about the "incident" (Shawn's own description) at the Tower of Darkness, he started a lecture about the weapons of power. While Shawn's mode of speech was dull, this time it wasn't as hard to keep his mind on what the Wizard was saying as before, and Hank did manage to gleam some interesting information from it. And it was the only time he was able to get a few questions of his own in.

'So you know how our weapons work?' asked Hank at a short lull, while Shawn drew breath.

'Well, no, not really, Ranger,' admitted the Wizard, 'I have never studied one. And it is not really my field.'

'What is your field?' said Hank, before Shawn could change the subject again.

'Strictly speaking, I have no field,' he said. 'I try to understand magic in all its forms.'

Much to Hank's surprise, the Wizard didn't continue with his questioning immediately; he was looking at the Bow.

'Your weapons are powerful, Ranger,' he continued quietly. 'They come close to being the most powerful magical items in this Realm.' The Wizard leaned forward. 'So, is it such a surprise that the Warlock wanted this one, so very much…?'

For a moment, there was silence. And something clicked inside Hank's mind; how had he not seen it before? All this questioning, it was pointless. Shawn already knew all about them! _So… what was all this about?_

Shawn seemed to sense what Hank was thinking, as he gave that little smile.

'But you are famous, Ranger, you must already know that. I have followed your progress though this world with great interest. None of Dungeonmaster's other pupils were ever so well known, or so successful.'

To prove his point, the Wizard then told Hank all he knew about their adventures against the Warlock. He seemed keen to show off his knowledge, and it came as another surprise when Shawn said:

'…and of course, when you finally banished him.'

It was the first (and only) mistake Shawn made.

'Me?' replied Hank. 'But I didn't! It was Eric!'

A flicker of astonishment passed over the Wizards face.

'The… Cavalier?' said Shawn, the disbelief in his tone unmistakable. 'He managed it?' Hank nodded. 'That's quite a surprise!'

Privately, Hank might have agreed, but he made no comment. Instead, he replied:

'I couldn't use the Bow while I was Barbarian, you see.'

Shawn was immediately back into superior-knowledge-mode.

'But you are mistaken, Ranger,' he said. 'You have never tried. But you can…. for a price. Like everything, your weapons have rules. If you break those rules, you must face the consequences.' Shawn gave a little smile, 'but it is not a price I think you would be willing to pay!'

Hank didn't like that smile. Shawn obviously wanted him to ask for more information, but Hank was damned if he would give the man the satisfaction! He was already uneasy, and the turn of the conversation hadn't helped.

'For all your familiarity with magic, you do not seem to understand much about it!' remarked the Wizard.

Hank shrugged. There was not much point in arguing about that; Shawn, being a Wizard was an expert compared to all of them!

'But then,' added Shawn, 'I supposed you've never had much of an explanation from the Dungeonmaster.'

The Ranger still didn't reply. Dungeonmaster had been good to them; he'd helped them all he could and he had no intention of bad-mouthing their Guide to some stranger!

'Your loyalty to him is a credit to your pure nature,' said Shawn after a long silence. 'But the Dungeonmaster's reputation has preceded him! As I said before, you are the most famous of all his pupils. And, I think, you have paid a high price for your fame!'

_Price… _Hank was growing to hate that word! He looked out towards the gardens, unwilling to look Shawn in the eye. Yes, they had paid a very high price for their fame. Not only had they repeatedly failed to get home, but along the way, they had suffered heart-ache and pain and loss. He could see Diana sitting in the Gardens with her Wizard, still talking. She had perhaps lost the most, of all of them. For all her acting and bravado, she was never going to be the same after Turad. He knew why she always took the mid-night watches. He knew also that she still occasionally cried herself to sleep.

'I am sorry, Ranger,' said the Wizard softly. 'We should not have spoken of such things…' Hank glanced back, and though he couldn't be sure, he thought he saw the flicker of a smile across Shawn's face. 'But we study Magic here, in all it's forms. Well do all Wizards know that, with magic, the price of its use is high.'

He waved his hand around.

'In this Guild, within these walls, Magic is contained and used. But it affects all who come here. Good and evil are both here; this is, after all, the Guild of Magic, Ranger, the only one of its kind in the whole Realm!'

Again, Hank got the feeling that Shawn was showing off his knowledge and trying to make an impression. But for all his skill and conversation, there was nothing that actually seemed magical about him. He didn't even feel like a Wizard; he didn't have the same underlying aura of power that Dungeonmaster did, or even Venger. There was something very… strange about him.

Shawn abruptly changed the subject, to the Darkling and the Grotto of Darkness. He skilfully avoided any questions that Hank tried to ask, concentrating instead on how Martha had helped them. But there was no way to avoid the admission that he, Hank, had been the one captured, and so could give the Wizard very little direct information.

The conversation wore on, and Hank became increasingly tired, not just of Shawn's questions, but the whole thing. He wanted to get this over with, and get on with something. They had talked for long enough, he wanted to go.

Finally, Shawn moved topic once again, as smoothly as always.

'So, Ranger, tell me about your latest quest. Why are you so interested in Krin?'

There was no reason now not to come clean and tell Shawn the whole story, but Hank still hesitated. He had learned a lot about the Wizard, and had no desire to give him another way of boasting. He obviously already knew all about Krin.

'Dungeonmaster just told us to find Krin, and that he may be able to send us home.'

'Really? Nothing more?'

Hank shook his head.

'Nothing about what, or how?'

Again, Hank shook his head.

Shawn leaned forward.

'Are you sure, Ranger? He told you nothing? Nothing else about Krin, and what he was planning?'

The Ranger felt uncomfortable as Shawn stared at him, sensing this was something of the utmost importance to the Wizard. Hank was dying to ask the man directly, but he stopped himself. There was no way Shawn was gonna tell him straight out! Instead, the Ranger just shook his head once more.

'I'm sorry, Dungeonmaster doesn't usually give us much information.'

Shawn gave a smile.

'Well, yes, I suppose he doesn't.'

'What do you know of Krin?' asked Hank, hoping that the Wizard would want to talk this time.

'Krin is… was a Wizard here at the Guild. But he left.'

A sharp pang of despair passed through the Ranger. Krin wasn't even at the damned Guild! He'd already gone! Why was Shawn wasting time when they should be out, finding Krin!

'He's not here?' asked Hank incredulously. 'Why!'

Shawn dismissed the question with a flick of his hand.

'He is no longer at the Guild,' repeated the Wizard, giving Hank a harsh look. 'And though I might tell you roughly were he lives, there is no guarantee he will want to talk to you, especially since…'

Shawn stopped.

'Especially since… what?' asked Hank. But the Wizard stayed silent. This man was infuriating! Even more so than Eric and his moods, or Dungeonmaster with his incessant riddles! Why couldn't he get a straight answer when he needed one?

'Now, look!' said Hank 'You said you'd help us find Krin!'

'And I shall,' replied Shawn evenly. 'I shall help as much as I can.'

They glared at each other, then the Wizard gave that smile once more. Before Hank could react, a bell rang, sounding clearly even through the walls, and Shawn's smiled transformed into a frown.

'You must go,' he said. 'Right now!'

Still annoyed, and now unsettled by Shawn's erratic behaviour, Hank scowled back.

'Why? What's so special about…'

'You must not stay within these walls too long, Ranger!' said Shawn, with a far more serious expression on his face than before. 'To remain for any great time… would be… unfortunate.'

A cold feeling settled through Hank. He might not know that much about magic, but he could sense Shawn was right. They should cut their losses and get out, while they still could. And at least he wouldn't have to put up with any more questions!

The Wizard had risen and moved to replace the book on the table. As he turned to the door to collect his staff, Hank stood and followed, noticing that Diana and her Wizard had already left the gardens.

In silence, Shawn led him back down the steps and corridors, towards the main hallway where he had last seen the others.

No sight in the Realm ever looked so good as he followed Shawn through the door: all six of his friends (including the unicorn) were there, all safe, and all more than ready to leave.

Shawn looked round at the Young Ones, smiling.

'It is time for you to leave this place.'

The others looked at Hank, expecting him to say something. But the Ranger was looking at Shawn.

'What about Krin?'

'I have not forgotten, Ranger!' replied the Wizard, not turning to face him as he replied. 'I will show you where to find him. But you must leave. Now!'

Shawn moved off back towards the door with his robe billowing out behind him, and everyone followed. Diana looked up at Hank quizzically, but he didn't say anything as he walked past. Each of them, even the naïve Barbarian, seemed to understand that they couldn't talk freely here, under the ever-watchful presence of the Wizards.

The Wizard set a good pace, and they trailed after him, through the Guild door and out into the lane. Much to Hank's surprise, Shawn didn't stop at the lane, but marched on, out into the busy street beyond without breaking step.

The group attracted a large amount of attention; it seemed that Wizards were not usually seen walking around the city with commoners. People stared as they walked past. A group of young boys stopped singing rude songs about Orcs and Goblins and one was even bold enough to come up to Shawn and offer him a trinket or two.

The Wizard stopped, and scowled at the lad.

'You don't have to talk like that to me,' he snapped. 'I'm not a tourist!'

Behind them, the rude song started again, except a little louder. Bobby couldn't suppress a snigger, but thankfully Shawn pretended not to hear and strode on.

The others were giving him confused looks, but the Ranger signalled them to follow anyway. He was just as confused as they were; granted he was slightly more used to Shawn's erratic behaviour, but still, he had real doubts about what was going on!

At the next junction, the Wizard came to another abrupt stop, and pointed off to the left, towards what looked like the poorer part of the City.

'Go that way,' Shawn told Hank, 'as far as the food vendors, then follow the other road down as far as the square.'

The Ranger frowned at the Wizard.

'Is that all?' asked Hank.

Shawn shrugged.

'Ranger, I cannot make Krin see you. If he does not wish to meet you, then there is nothing I can do!'

The Wizard gave a slight bow and walked off, and Hank watched him with a mix of relief and frustration. They might not have exactly what they wanted or needed, but at least that was over!

'Well,' said Diana as soon as he was out of earshot. '"Goodbye" is what you usually say!'

The Cavalier didn't add his own quip so, to fill the awkward silence, Presto added:

'Maybe they didn't teach him that at Wizard school!'

For the first time since they'd found the Guild, Diana gave a genuine smile.

'At least we're outta that place!' she said.

There were vehement nods of agreement, and Hank gave an anxious glance back towards Shawn's gold staff as it disappeared into the crowd. At least they knew something more about Krin, but they didn't have a lot of time before dark.

'Let's get moving!' he said. 'We can walk and talk at the same time!'

Moving off in the direction Shawn had pointed, he led them down the road, discussing what had happened as they went.

It seemed they all had the same experience of the Guild. Diana talked first, and she struggled to sum up the conversation, as all Rimush had done was ask her lots of awkward questions about things she didn't want to talk about. She didn't say it directly, but Hank guessed he'd quizzed her about Turad, and Kosar. None of the others interrupted, until she mentioned the Guild itself, then Sheila said:

'You're lucky to got any information at all! Wrene wouldn't talk about it at all! Would she?'

Beside her, Bobby nodded.

'Yeah, she went all quiet when Sheila asked, especially about the other Wizards.'

'What did she ask you about?' said Hank.

'What didn't she ask!' replied Bobby with a sigh, patting the unicorn. 'Even Uni got bored!'

'She wanted to know about Zinn, and Mindril, and Recadia. All the places we'd seen,' said Sheila. 'She said she was the Wizard of Metasocial Interspersion.'

'Are you sure?' asked Presto with a smile.

The Thief grinned back.

'I got her to repeat it! What about you, Presto? What happened with Melor?'

Presto seemed pleased at the memory, as he smiled.

'Melor was really nice, he talked a lot about his magic. And he asked about the Hat a lot too.'

'Did he give you any help?'

'Well, no, not exactly,' admitted Presto, 'but he did seem very impressed with it! He said he was the Wizard of Draconiform Armamentation.'

Bobby frowned, so Presto translated:

'Dragon-made weapons!'

'And did he tell you anything about the Guild?'

'Not really,' said the Magician. 'He just said it was really powerful.'

Hank pulled a face, then turned to the silent Cavalier.

'What about you, Eric? What happened?'

The other boy gave an awkward shrug, not looking Hank in the eye.

'Nothing that interesting,' he said. 'It was just… you know…'

Hank was struck by the feeling that there was something odd, as the Cavalier seemed even more reluctant to talk than usual. But Bobby butted in.

'C'mon Eric, tell us what happened! Who'd you get?'

'Look, I told you, nothing much happened, OK?' snapped Eric, 'I didn't learn anything about the Guild, or anybody else. Sorry for not being more nosey!'

'Gee, sorry I spoke,' muttered the Barbarian, as Eric lapsed into silence once more.

'Well, that just leaves you, Hank,' said Sheila quickly, before the Cavalier decided to pick a fight with her brother. 'Tell us about Shawn.'

'Where should I start!' said Hank with a smile. He was glad to be back with friends, among people he trusted. 'Shawn is… odd.'

He told them about the long conversation, giving more attention to the parts about Krin and the Guild. None of the others looked very pleased that Shawn hadn't bothered to tell them that Krin wasn't even at the Guild, until he absolutely had to.

But the Ranger reassured them that at least now they were on the right track.

'And with any luck, we won't have to go back there again!' There were murmurs of approval from his friends. 'So let's find Krin and go home!'

Everyone, bar Bobby, grinned.

'So, Shawn told you where he is, and what he looks like?'

Hank gave a nervous smile.

'Not exactly, but he's a Wizard, and they tend to stand out!'

The answer seemed to satisfy the Barbarian, but Diana looked at him with a frown. They walked on through the streets of Kilan, forming a straggly line and the Acrobat waited until the others were a little ahead before asking:

'Shawn did tell you? Didn't he?'

Hank tried to smile, but he was very bad at lying to Diana.

'He hardly told me anything,' admitted Hank. 'Even getting him to say Krin was a Wizard took me about three hours!'

In spite of her obvious disappointment, Diana smiled.

'I didn't like talking to Rimush, but Shawn sounds even worse!'

'Hey, Hank!' called the Barbarian from just in front. 'Is this where Shawn meant?'

The name of the Wizard seemed to attract the attention of others, as they were looked at with the same wariness as before. Looking around, he could seem a number of shops, with names like: "Miggin's Pie Shop" and "The Zana Fruit Emporium". The Wizard had said food vendors, and this must be the place! He nodded, looking around.

'Shawn said to follow the other road down to the square…' He trailed off. There was only one "other road" within view, and it was narrow and dark, and not the kind of road he'd expected. There was almost nothing down this road, very few people, and even fewer shops. It looked abandoned.

With a shrug, and hoping Shawn had been right, he led them on, and on. And on.

They walked for a long time in the failing light, until Hank finally stopped them beside a small alcove in the walls. The last person they passed was almost a half-hour ago, and they hadn't seen an unbarred door at least since then. Now they could hardly see the road in front of them and there was still no sign of a square, or a Wizard! He had no idea where this road was leading them!

'It's no good,' he said despondently. 'It's too dark. We'll have to stop here and rest until morning.'

'But where are we gonna spend the night?' asked Bobby.

'A doorway's probably all we'll get!' said Presto with a sigh. 'Still, I suppose it makes a nice change from tree stumps!'

Hank looked round at the others, knowing full well that sleeping rough in the city was not that good an idea. This was not an easy place to defend, if necessary. But they hadn't seen any signs of life for a while, and it would only be a few hours until morning. They would have to risk it.

'I don't like this, Hank,' said Sheila.

'What choice do we have?' he asked. He had expected to find Krin, and somewhere at least safe-ish to spend the night; they had always somehow managed to find someone friendly before. But this whole visit to Kilan had turned out to be much more difficult than he'd expected. If it wasn't for the hope of getting home, he would have suggested they leave before things got any worse. The others all looked uncomfortable, but no one argued.

'I'll take first watch,' said Eric suddenly, then scowled at through the surprised silence that followed. Then the ever-tactful Diana bagged the second watch. Hank didn't feel like contradicting the Cavalier (and getting into another argument with him), and it was the first time Eric had volunteered for a long while, so despite his reservations, the Ranger agreed.

Everyone sat down, tried and in need of some sleep. Hank himself suddenly felt exhausted, like he'd been awake for hours and hours; even the energetic Acrobat was yawning. He settled down beside Sheila and Bobby, and slipped his arm round the weary-looking Thief. She let her head drop onto his shoulder.

And, despite not finding anywhere to stay, or their trouble at the Guild, and being unable to locate Krin, he held her close, grateful that they were all safe and fell asleep.

* * *

Diana had known she would dream about Kosar that night. She dreamt about him often; the final few moments they had together in the Temple of Light, and she would awaken, shaking and on the verge of tears. But this night she dreamt about the few happy hours they had spent together, walking through the meadows with Uni, even hiding in the City of Turad. She could picture his smile, as vividly as if it had only been yesterday. She could feel his touch… _Wait! She really could feel his touch…_

Diana woke with a start, Eric's hand on her shoulder.

The Cavalier didn't say anything. There were dark, smudged rims round his eyes making him look terrible, but before she could say anything, he moved off and curled up in a doorway near the others, closing his eyes without even looking back at her. She knew him well enough by now, but she'd never seen him sulk for so long before and it worried her. When he did decide to talk, it would be like a dam breaking.

She sat with her back against the wall a short way from her sleeping friends, looking up at the stars, though only the brightest were visible through the smoke in the air. _Kosar…_but he was gone forever. She had pondered Dungeonmaster's words thousands of times, but they did nothing to help, she just didn't understand.

Nothing moved and it was quiet, perhaps the quietest watch she'd ever had. And yet, though she thought she was imagining things, she could have sworn someone was watching her.

The feeling grew as the moons moved across the sky. The more it grew, the more uncomfortable Diana became, and the more she looked up and down the street, trying to keep a good watch over her friends. But, maybe an hour before dawn, it became so acute that she had almost decided to wake Hank. She knew he would take her worries seriously, but she still hesitated. He'd been so worried recently, especially after the Troglodytes they'd met; he could probably use the extra sleep…

'Child of Light.'

Her breath caught. She whipped her weapon round, only to find a man crouching next to her as if he'd been by her side all night. She didn't need to be told that this was the Wizard Krin, even if he was not what she expected.

He was young, only a few years old than Hank, or so he seemed. He wore a hood but even so, she could make out that something was wrong. Though partially hidden, his features were warped and distorted, just like the Guild had been. Magic shimmered around him as he moved.

She shuddered involuntarily. The Magic of the Guild must have been responsible for this… change. She couldn't even make out the colour of his hair, or his eyes. Shecouldbarely stand to look him in the face.

For a few seconds they sat staring at each other. As much as the Acrobat wanted to call out to her friends, she didn't. She might not be able to see him properly, but he was obviously afraid of something. He had been watching them, obviously, and had taken a long time to decide to show himself. She couldn't risk frightening him away, and he might not come back.

Slowly, not looking away from her, Krin stood and moved away, beckoning her to follow. Diana hesitated and looked toward her friends.

The Wizard shook his head vehemently, the distortion effect seeming more pronounced as he moved. There was no doubt he would go if she tried to wake the others, but she shouldn't leave them unguarded.

What should she do? This might be their only chance.

_Hank will understand that this is the only chance we'll have. I have to take the risk. I must…_

Looking at her sleeping friends once more she stood up and, feeling terrible, she followed the Wizard, down the empty streets, always looking around. Even the smaller cities had something going on at night. Why was it so quiet? They had strayed away from the main parts, but still there should have been something.

In front of her, the Wizard walked very softly, and at a good pace for about ten more minutes down the street, until they reached a big, but empty square.

She glanced around again. Nobody.

Krin padded out into the centre of the square, and stopped. Diana followed, feeling very vulnerable and alone. Her hand tightened around the Javelin. Perhaps this hadn't been such a great idea…

'Child of Light,' he said with a bow. 'I am honoured to be in your presence.'

Once more, Diana forced herself to smile, she hated being called that so much!

'Krin, the Wizard,' she replied.

The man bowed once more.

There was a flutter of elation. She had been right. This was the Wizard they had been searching for, the one who could send them home! The Acrobat smiled more widely. _…the one who could send them home…_

'You come from a different world, child? Do you not?'

Warily, she nodded. This man seemed afraid, but there was something else about him that she didn't trust. _Magic…_ Yes. The Magic.

'I must leave,' he whispered. 'I need your help to do it. Only you.'

She didn't move. Dungeonmaster's words were ringing in her ears. _Kilan is a place where trust is in very short supply. _Could she trust Krin? Did she dare risk it? And what about the others?

'My friends,' she said. 'I must go back to them soon. I don't like leaving them unguarded. They don't even know that I've gone.' It was so hard to tell what the Wizard was thinking, and he didn't reply, just stared at her.

'Still, they have they're weapons,' she murmured, more to calm herself than to Krin. But Krin gave a little shrug that immediately put Diana on edge. It was one of those kind of shrugs.

'Weapons, yes…' he said slowly. 'Even they submit to the Magic of the Guild. Allsubmit.Even them…'

Diana looked up in shock.

'What do you mean!'

'The Magic is all! The Magic does what it will, and nothing is ever the same.'

The Weapons! 

Diana felt real panic rising through her. She had left them, unguarded in a strange city, and their weapons might be affected by the Magic of the Guild! She hadn't forgotten what had happened the last time one of the weapons met another source of Magic. Presto still hadn't recovered from Mindril!

'But I left them!' she said taking a small step back. 'We have to go and get them! We have to warn them!'

There was a cold pause.

'But I only need one to help me break free of this world,' Krin hissed, the magic shimmering violently around him.

She pulled herself up tall.

'And I won't leave without them!' she hissed back, grabbing Krin by the arm and feeling her skin crawl at the contact with him. But she didn't let go. 'I've gotta go! So if you want help, you're coming too!'

* * *

Hank was dozing, more asleep than awake. Pleasant dreams, or perhaps they were memories of home. It was so peaceful that he could almost imagine he was anywhere and still believe it.

In the blissful quiet, only the soft breaths of the Thief as she lay beside him. He could feel her warmth. And in spite of the discomfort in his shoulder, caused by the way he was sitting, he never, ever wanted to move.

Then a rough, unfamiliar voice cut through his thoughts:

'So then…I think we'll just be having that unicorn!'


	4. All Good Things

Chapter 4

All Good Things

'I said, we'll have that unicorn!'

Hank scrambled to his feet, looking blearily around. They were surrounded. Six tall men were standing around in a semicircle. They had no weapons, but each looked strong enough to wrestle an Orc, and win.

His friends were also standing. Bobby had his arm round the unicorn in question, and Sheila was standing protectively by her brother's side. Presto and Eric were nearby, the Cavalier looking especially shaky, as if he was mostly still asleep. Diana was…

Hank looked again. The Acrobat wasn't there!

'Where's Diana?' he demanded.

The leader of the group; a squat, broad man with a scowl that reminded Hank of his old Math teacher, gave a shrug.

'You should worry about yourselves!' he replied. His gazed flicked away from the Ranger, back to the terrified unicorn that was huddled against the Barbarian. 'We want the unicorn! She'll fetch a good price. In the right place!'

'She's mine!' shouted Bobby as he lifted his Club. 'No one's gonna take her away!'

The man laughed, and his friends behind joined in.

'Look, little boy,' he said. 'No one's going to buy her from you now! So you might as well just give her up peacefully.'

'She's my pet!' spat the Barbarian, as forcefully as he could. 'She's mine!'

The men laughed once more, and Hank lifted the Bow.

'I suggest you back off,' he said evenly. 'We don't wanna fight you, but…'

The men were just laughing harder.

'Look, sonny,' said the leader. 'Your weapons don't scare us!' He gave a wide, toothy grin than made Hank feel suddenly worried. 'Not now you've been to the Guild!'

The Ranger glanced down at the weapon in his hand. Surely the Magic at the Guild couldn't have… But the men were laughing again and seemed to know what he was thinking.

'Well, why don't you just try!' said the leader.

With his friends watching, Hank reached across to pull an arrow. Magic fizzed and sparked down the length on the Bow, making his fingers tingle, but no arrow came, no matter how hard he tried. In desperation, he looked round at the others.

Bobby tried to take a swipe at one of the men, but the Club went straight through. Next to her brother, Sheila lifted the hood of her Cloak, but instead of disappearing, she changed into someone else; a diminutive form of Venger, complete with black dress, miniature wings and a single horn.

'Eew! Gross!' she squealed, looking down at herself in horror, and yanked the hood back as quickly as she could.

Hank looked at the remaining two of his friends. Presto was staring down at his Hat in terrified silence, a glazed look on his face. No prizes for guessing why, and there was no way he was gonna try a spell at the moment! The Cavalier was struggling to control the Shield; it seemed to have developed a mind of it's own, and was trying to tug him up into the air. Finally, all he could do was pull it off his arm, and throw it to the ground behind them, where it stayed, twitching slightly.

'So then,' said the man, still grinning. 'What were you saying about "pets"?'

Hank glanced round in dismay, wondering what the next move should be. They were defenceless, and surrounded, and where was Diana? But as concerned as he was for the Acrobat, they had other, more pressing problems; the men were standing with an air of confidence that came of being completely in control. Hank gulped. He had no idea what they were gonna do, or how to get themselves out of this.

'_That_ serves you right for trying to sell to the Guild without using us!' said the leader, pointing a grubby finger at Hank. 'Haven't you heard of Fair Trade?'

'We don't want to sell her, to the Guild, or to anyone!' replied the Ranger. 'She's a pet!'

'Unicorns as pets!' sneered the man. 'That's ridiculous! Next you'll be telling us Dragons are friendly!'

Another ripple of laughter spread round the group of men. Hank was trying desperately to think of a good way to extract themselves, and keep Uni safe at the same time. Maybe there was still a chance to talk their way out of this, if only they could just stay calm and act like rational…

The Cavalier suddenly stepped forward, in front of Bobby, Sheila and Uni. He didn't have his Shield, but he stood up tall, with his hands on his hips in the arrogant pose Hank knew so well.

'Uni's not going anywhere!'

There was sniggering from one of the men.

'Uni! Uni the unicorn!' The snigger changed into a braying laugh. 'What a stupid name!'

'Watch your mouth!' snarled Eric.

The leader stopped laughing, and smiled at the Cavalier.

'You can't stop us, boy!'

Eric didn't move. Hank could only see half the expression on his face, but that was enough to make him go cold. He knew, deep down, that their Cavalier would never in a million years pick a fight with six bigger men, and certainly not over the "dumb unicorn". But Eric showed no signs at all of backing down. In fact, if he hadn't known better, he would have thought that the Cavalier was eager for a showdown.

The leader stared at Eric, just as the others were doing, with an expression of mild surprise.

'I said, "you can't stop us!"'

They were locked eye-to-eye, glaring at each other. The Cavalier gave a deceptively casual shrug.

'That's what you think!'

This was such a bad idea, Hank knew it; there was no way to get avoid a confrontation if this continued! But this was a side of Eric's nature he had never seen. What had fuelled this sudden show of bravado? Hank could see the cold glare in the other boy's eyes; Eric was furious, pure and simple, and was not gonna make any effort to keep control. The leader seemed to realise this too, but he didn't seem worried. After all there were six of them! One cocky Cavalier wasn't enough to stop them; steel armour and a sullen attitude was only gonna get him so far!

Against all his better judgement, Hank took a step forward, closer to Eric's shoulder. A few seconds later, Presto moved forward too so that Bobby, Sheila and Uni were behind them.

Hank was close enough to see the look of pure and unadulterated anger on Eric's face; and he gulped. This was gonna get nasty…

'Hey! Hey, you!' came a voice.

The Ranger turned to look, even though he knew who it was: _Diana!_

Beside her was a tall, thin figure; hooded but obviously using magic. Hank's heart suddenly leaped. That MUST be Krin! She'd found him! That's where she had been!

The men turned too, and Hank was relieved to see an anxious expression on the leader's face.

'Krin!' hissed the man. 'You stay out of this! They're no concern of yours!'

The Wizard slowly shook his head, his features and clothes distorting as he moved, so much so that Hank blinked hard to make sure there was nothing wrong with his eyes. The leader took a single step back.

Krin didn't make any movement, but just waited. Hank was hardly breathing, hoping that the Wizard knew what he was doing; intimidation was only gonna get them so far. Long seconds passed, and no one moved, the men all staring at Krin. Doubts flooded through the Ranger. _This wasn't gonna work._

Then slowly, never taking his eyes off the Wizard, the leader took another step back, away from the kids and the unicorn.

'I'll see you pay for this, Krin!' he snarled, still backing away. 'You should mind your own business!'

If this statement worried the Wizard, he didn't let it show. He just stood, hooded and impassive watching as the men backed away and disappeared off down the alley. As soon as they were out of sight, Hank turned back to the Acrobat with a huge grin. Behind him, he caught a quick glimpse of a tearful Bobby cuddling the shaking unicorn, and Sheila hugging her brother.

He moved towards Krin, questions already forming in his mind, but the Wizard pulled back, as if afraid, the magic shimmering again. The Ranger frowned, Krin was nothing like he'd expected. Hank glanced at Diana who was standing between them. There was a long moment of awkward silence before Hank managed to say:

'Thanks for helping us.'

He smiled at the Wizard who didn't move this time. Hank tried to make out an expression on the man's face, but the hood was well drawn forward. It was difficult to make out any details about him, except he seemed to be steeped in magic; it was almost flowing out of him, making it difficult to actually see what Krin looked like.

Suddenly, the Ranger realised that they were staring at the Wizard as if he was some kind of freak. No wonder he seemed uncomfortable. Then a scuffing noise from behind attracted his attention, and Hank whipped round, raising the Bow even though it was almost useless. But it was only the Cavalier retrieving his Shield from where he'd thrown it. This time, his weapon was still when he picked it up, but Eric was looking at it with a frown. Hank glanced down at the weapon in his own hand. _What was going on?_

They needed answers!

As he looked back to the Wizard, Diana finally spoke.

'I found Krin,' she said, gesturing to the Wizard just behind her. Hank smiled once more, as did the Thief, but the others all looked nervous. As awkward as Krin obviously felt, the Ranger knew he couldn't allow this situation to continue. They had to get out of here, and they had to somehow all get along together. This Wizard was the one Dungeonmaster said could send them home!

As if able to read his mind, Krin tilted his head, and looked properly at the Ranger for the first time. Hank felt himself flinch at the sight of the Wizard's distorted face; almost unrecognisable under all the magic.

'You should all follow, I suppose,' muttered Krin. 'Follow.'

He turned, leaving a swirl of magic in his wake, and walked briskly off back down the street where they came from. Diana beckoned them to go too, and followed the Wizard. Bobby, holding the unicorn in a fierce grip went after, with Sheila just behind. Presto looked up to Hank with a shrug, before going too. Then the Cavalier brushed past Hank, not looking him in the eye. Hank scowled at Eric's back, remembering the stand-off they'd only just survived and the danger he'd put them all in. Sticking up for his friends was one thing, but trying to face down six men on his own was dumb; bordering on plain stupid!

Hank almost confronted the Cavalier as they walked, but Eric seemed to be sulking once again, and the Ranger had more important things to worry about than having another petulant squabble with the other boy. It could wait until they had some answers, and found out what was going on; where Diana had found Krin, what had happened to the weapons, and how they were going to get home.

Hank suddenly smiled, in spite of himself. This was Krin! They had finally found him; and Krin could send them home! Speeding up, Hank overtook both Eric and Presto, falling into step beside Sheila and gave her a wide smile.

She smiled back, and they walked on together, following Krin and Diana down the road. They passed along the narrow street, and across an empty square. Krin lead them on, down more streets, towards the river and the port. They walked for a long while, and slowly they began to see a few people moving around, getting ready for the new day. Mostly they were ignored, but every so often Hank would see covert glances from some of the people, and it sent a cold sliver of fear down his spine.

Finally, the Wizard stopped outside a dark building; Hank couldn't quite bring himself to call it a house. He waited for the Young Ones to all catch up before pushing the door open and disappearing inside. Diana followed without hesitation and, trusting the Acrobat's intuition, Hank followed too.

He wasn't sure what he expected to find; perhaps somewhere dark and mysterious, or as cold and sombre as the Guild had been. Even in the gloom, Hank could see that it was just one room, a bit like a warehouse. Over in one corner there was a small table and a chair, and a pile of blankets that the Ranger assumed was a bed.

But the bulk of the floorspace was taken up with a huge sort of machine, lying with bits everywhere. There was a large, metal ring, maybe ten or fifteen feet across, with strange symbols covering it's surface. Around it, scattered in a seemingly random pattern, were magical items; wands, spellbooks, glowing orbs; and also a few bits of seaweed.

He didn't get a chance to get a really good look, as Krin herded them over to the far corner, away from his creation. They sat down in a circle on the floor but instead of staying, Krin ignored them, moving away to the other end of the room, and started pottering about moving things in a seemingly random fashion. The kids looked round at each other, and Hank spoke first.

'At least we've found Krin!' he said with a half-smile.

Diana smiled warmly back at him.

'Yeah, sorry about leaving you like that, but…' she gestured at the distracted Wizard behind her. 'He's a little bit, sensitive.'

'What happened?' Presto asked the Acrobat. 'How did you find him?'

Diana obviously didn't like admitting that he'd managed to sneak up on her, or that she'd had to practically drag Krin back to help, and Hank's good feelings started to fade as the Acrobat explained as much as she knew. She didn't have many answers, and they need to know what was going on.

'And he seems to need ay least one of us to help him get out of the Realm,' she said.

'Do you know how?' asked Hank. 'What's he trying to do?'

The Acrobat shrugged, then gestured at the ring on the floor.

'I'd guess that has something to do with it!'

'What is it?' whispered Bobby. 'It doesn't look like a portal to me!'

'It must be an artificial one,' said Presto excitedly. 'You know, a mechanical one, rather than a magical one. Wow, that's really cool! I wonder how it works!'

Hank frowned.

'Mechanical? Can you do that? Here?'

The Magician shrugged.

'Krin seems to think so,' he replied. 'And so did Dungeonmaster! "Krin can send you home"; that's what he said!'

They smiled at each other, until the Cavalier spoke.

'Actually, he said "Krin _may be able _to send you home". There is a difference!'

'Thanks a lot, Er-ic!' said the Barbarian sourly. The Cavalier gave a diffident shrug but didn't make any comeback.

Hank frowned at the other boy, growing more annoyed. OK, so Krin wasn't what they'd expected, but the least Eric could do was try and look on the bright side. They were so close to getting home this time. They'd found Krin, they were within a few feet of a portal! _So close…_So why couldn't that damn Cavalier show a bit of enthusiasm?

Eric looked up at him with red-tinged eyes, almost challenging the Ranger to say what he was thinking. The others were quiet, sensing the coming argument.

Hank waited, unwilling to be the one who started another fight, but the awkward silence was abruptly broken by the crack of glass on stone. Everyone turned.

Krin was standing close to the metal ring, looking down at the two halves of a crystal ball on the floor. He glanced round at the children, and Hank flinched once again as the Wizard looked into his eyes. Then he watched as Krin picked up the two pieces and carefully placed them on the ring, taking his time to make sure they were in just exactly the right place. Next to the Ranger, Presto was leaning forward, keen to see what was going on.

'What do you think he'll do next?' whispered the Magician. 'Maybe it's ready to use!'

As if he'd heard what Presto had said, the Wizard moved towards the group and sat down between Diana and Bobby. Uni leaned forward cautiously and gave him a shy sniff, then settled back down beside her master.

'You are as far-sighted as you are intelligent, young Magician,' said Krin, making Presto blush and give an awkward smile. 'This can indeed make portals.'

'It can send us home?' asked Bobby. 'Really?'

Krin nodded.

'It will create doors to any place, and any time, open to your past and future as well as your present.' Hank saw Bobby and Sheila smile at each other, but the Ranger had had enough experience of Dungeonmaster to know what was coming next: the sting in the tail. 'But… it is not ready. It needs something… more…'

The smiles died away as Krin turned to Diana. Hank could see the swirl of magic that passed for a face, and the pleading look that was written all over it.

'Child of Light,' said Krin, as Diana frowned at the name. 'I need your help, Child of Light.'

The Acrobat seemed to be expecting the request, but Bobby didn't let her speak.

'Why?' he demanded. 'What's going on? Why can't you just send us home?'

Krin shook his head, making Hank feel slightly nauseous.

'Magic,' said Krin in a quiet voice. 'So much magic here. Too much. In me, on you, too much. Too dark.'

Gently, Diana laid a hand on the Wizard's arm, and Hank had to admire the way she didn't shudder at the touch.

'Why don't you tell us what's happened. Maybe we can help.'

The man gave a sigh.

'I went to the Guild, I worked there, I studied there for years. I took what I thought I wanted, but… Everyone at the Guild is affected by the magic they wield.' He looked to Diana. 'You are affected too. Just being close to you all, makes it all the more real. I can feel it calling me.' He lowered his head. 'Magic has power over me. It lives in me, it strangles and caresses me. It has taken me all the places I never wanted to go.' There was an uncomfortable silence, but none of the Young Ones dared speak. 'The Guild, it takes magic; all magic. It burns with magic. It takes what it will, and changes what it wants, like the weapons.' Hank glanced down at the Bow. 'And the Guild controls the city.'

The way he said it made the Ranger uncomfortable. He'd heard this sort of tale before.

'Controls?' he asked. 'Controls, or enslaves?'

Krin didn't reply, and Hank was starting to like this situation even less than before. He could remember the feel of the city clearly, unpleasant and forced and dangerous. Yes, full of dangerous, unhappy people, all watched over by the all-powerful Guild. It made some sort of sense.

'And what will this portal do? Destroy the Guild and send us home?'

Krin shook his head.

'No,' he said, sounding surprised. 'It will take me away. It will take me to a world where I can be free, free of the magic. Forever and ever.' He looked up at Hank, bright blue magic blazing from where his eyes should have been. 'I have to be free!'

'Why don't you just leave?' asked Bobby. 'Get away from the city, just go?'

'I can't,' mumbled the Wizard. 'Ever. It will find me. Wherever I go in this world. The Guild does not want me to go. I know it too well.'

Hank frowned. He was talking as if the building itself was stopping him!

'You mean the people? The Wizards? Don't you?' asked Diana, obviously thinking the same thing as Hank. 'A building can't stop you! It can't get up and follow you!'

Krin didn't reply for a long while. Then he gave a sardonic smirk.

'Even as Dungeonmaster's pupils, you understand so little about Magic.' To Hank's surprise, Krin wasn't looking at Diana anymore, or even Presto. He was watching Eric with an expression of compassion.

'There are some in the Guild who are altogether too enamoured of its power,' continued the Wizard, his eyes never leaving the Cavalier. 'They will try and stop me. They think I'm to be feared for wanting to leave. They do not understand. But I couldn't stay.'

_But why do you need us?_ thought Hank. He didn't say it out loud, as he wasn't so sure he wanted to know the answer. Dungeonmaster's words were loud in his mind: _Remember, in this City everything has its price. Everything!_ From what Krin has said, the price was gonna be high! A wave of anger and despair swept through him, and he raised his hand to his eyes. This wasn't gonna work. Yet again! They were never gonna get home…

Hank looked up to see the Wizard watching him. The flash of magic had gone from his eyes, but there was still power swirling around, deforming his face. But this time the Ranger did flinch.

'You come from a world of no magic,' said Krin. 'I would be safe there. I would be free.'

'And we could go home,' added Presto wistfully.

'But why do you need us?' asked Diana.

Krin shook his head.

'I need you! You have the Light within you.' He smiled at her, the magic in his face almost quiet. 'You are the Child of Light.'

The Ranger glanced up at Diana. He knew how she felt about the whole business at Turad: she had cried on his shoulder often enough. But he also knew how she felt; she had traded their way home for Kosar's life. She had reacted from the heart, and even though everyone had agreed with her decision, he sensed how much that had cost her personally to make that choice. Diana sat quietly as they all looked at her, trying to force herself to speak without crying.

'I don't know what you mean,' she said eventually. 'After Starfall, everything… went away…'

The sad, hurt look on her face was intolerable to the Ranger. She had been through enough without Krin making it worse.

'Look,' he said suddenly, 'We need more answers than that! Diana won't help unless we know what's going on at the Guild. How can…'

The question was interrupted by a cold laugh from the Wizard.

'What is "going on"! But you have been to the Guild,' said Krin bluntly, and there was a look of disgust on his face that Hank didn't like. 'You met them!'

This was not the reply the Ranger had expected. He thought back to the Wizards from the Guild, feeling even more uneasy than before. They had all felt uncomfortable at there, and knowing how much magic power was there didn't make him feel any better. He had the terrible feeling they had stumbled onto something much more complicated and dangerous than they'd thought.

'Tell me,' said Krin with a twisted smile. 'What did they do to you?'

'We were interviewed!' said Bobby, his tone somewhere between pride and embarrassment. 'They asked us load of questions.'

The Wizard's smile twitched.

'Yes, I know what interviewed means, Barbarian!' he hissed, narrowing his eyes. 'But who? To which of them did you speak? Tell me!'

The others looked at Hank, expecting him to go first.

'Shawn,' he said. 'And we met Meylar outside too.'

Krin's expression didn't change. The Ranger couldn't help but remember the general air of distrust and dislike that seemed to appear in the Guild as soon as Krin's name was mentioned. Certainly, Shawn hadn't liked him. And Meylar didn't seem too impressed either.

'We spoke with Wrene,' said Bobby, gesturing to his sister. Still, Krin didn't react.

'Melor,' said Presto.

'Rimush,' said Diana.

At the name, Krin gave a small humph, the twisted smile now a sneer of disgust.

'Of course you did! And you spoke of me? What did he say?'

Diana flushed, and looked to Hank for support, but he could only shrug.

'He said, that you were… dangerous,' replied the Acrobat with a rueful smile.

Then Krin laughed, loud and long, the sound echoing round the room. As the sound died away, he turned to the last of them, the Cavalier, as did everyone else. Eric said nothing, just looked round at the faces of his friends with a growing air of panic.

Hank did a double take, suddenly understanding, but Diana beat him to speaking.

'You did talk to someone, didn't you?' she asked.

The Cavalier looked startled by the directness of the question, and didn't reply fast enough to stop Hank realising the truth. Of course, no one had spoken to Eric; it was so obvious now! His reaction to the questions earlier hinted that something was wrong.

A conflicting suite of emotions passed through the Ranger; but mostly there was anger that Eric was he one let off the hook. He didn't have to spend hours bandying words with Wizards or worrying about what to say, or if he was giving too much away! But there were other questions too: What had Eric done in those few hours in the Guild; but also, and perhaps more importantly why had Shawn just left him, of all people? Hank could remember Shawn's natural dislike of the Cavalier, his snide disdain and apparent surprise when Hank had mentioned the Warlock. But then, they had spoken of Darkhaven too; surely someone as interested in magic as Shawn professed to be would have wanted to know more?

But these thoughts were swept away as Hank looked at the face of his so-called friend. The Cavalier was looking at the floor, his face as red as his cape, with an expression of shame that just made Hank angrier. He probably didn't bother to wait around for his Wizard to show up!

'Why didn't you say earlier?' he demanded. 'What were you thinking!'

Eric looked up with the same expression his face then Krin suddenly gave a soft chuckle.

'Heart of darkness and the tainted of impurity, why would anyone need him?'

The Cavalier had turned to glare at the Wizard, but Hank wasn't gonna let him off the hook this time!

'What did you do?' asked the Ranger. 'Slope off to the kitchens for some free food!'

The hurt expression that flashed across Eric's face did nothing to appease Hank's anger. 'Or did you just hide, as usual?'

It wasn't the sort of think Hank would usually have said, but the words were out now, and even though he knew he'd gone too far, he didn't really regret saying it. Eric was being more difficult and uncooperative than usual. He was acting in a way that was endangering the safety of them all. He was making no effort to be one of the team, and he had to be told that that sort of behaviour wasn't gonna be tolerated anymore!

The Cavalier had whipped round to face him, the same fierce anger in his eyes that Hank had seen before. But Eric did say anything, just glared at the Ranger as if trying to see into him, but the Ranger would be damned if he was gonna speak first! He wasn't the one who was in the wrong! The silence seemed never-ending, and Hank kept quiet, waiting.

But eventually it was Sheila who spoke, for the first time since they'd arrived.

'Look, Hank. We can't stay here. Whatever we're gonna do, let's do it soon.' He looked into her eyes, seeing the hope muted with worry. 'Those thugs, they knew Krin. They might know where he lives. They might be back.'

Beside her, Uni shuffled closer to Bobby, and looked up at Hank. Whatever his personal feelings might be at the moment, they had other things to think about, more important things than the Cavalier.

Hank looked back to Krin, aware that he still hadn't told them exactly what he was gonna do, or exactly why he needed Diana's help.

There was a noise from the doorway, and Hank turned expecting to see the same group of men as before. But instead it was an animal, like a lion, but with face of an old man and two large, bat-like wings. It stood and stared at the group with a malevolent smile.

'You!' hissed Krin, rising slowly, his magic him whipped up into an instant frenzy. 'I should have known!'

There was a light laugh from the shadows behind the creature.

'Yes, Krin! Yes. You should.'


	5. Full Circle

Chapter 5

Full Circle

'Show yourself, Wizard!' said Krin coldly as everyone rose.

Hank's breath caught in the back of his throat, and there was a shimmer from the shadows, and Shawn stepped out to stand beside the creature, the heavy gold staff still in his right hand. Casually, he reached out to pet the lion, giving it a friendly scratch behind its ear. The creature pushed back against his hand, obviously enjoying the attention, but its baleful, grey eyes never left the group.

The two Wizards stared at each other. Krin's fists were balled, and he held himself rigid, in stark contrast to the casual air of Shawn, where only the slight frown on his face gave any hint of what he was thinking.

As the silence grew more uncomfortable, the Ranger took a tiny step back, in front of Sheila and her brother. He'd spent hours in Shawn's company earlier, and he didn't relish the thought of being stuck in the middle of a showdown between these two Wizards. And especially not with their weapons in the state they were in. They had no way of defending themselves, if it was necessary. And as he looked at the Wizards, Hank had the feeling that it would be.

Shawn still had his hand on the lion-creature's mane, and the Ranger suddenly realised the animal had been staring at just one member of their group: Uni. Taking a surreptitious glance to the ground, Hank was surprised to see the young unicorn glaring back at the creature. Oddly, she didn't seem afraid this time.

As he looked back to the lion, Shawn seemed to take notice of them for the first time, and suddenly smiled.

'I take it you've never seen one of these magnificent creatures,' he said, sounding smug. 'This is a Manticore.' The creature lifted its head, knowing it was being talked about.

He'd heard of Manticores before. They were evil creatures; vicious, dangerous and anti-social. Not only did they have all the fighting talents of a real lion and the intelligence of a human, they were armed with a nasty, spiky tail that could shoot short, metal bolts. As if to emphasise what Hank was thinking, the Manticore swished its tail from side to side.

'They are quite rare in the Realm these days,' continued Shawn conversationally. 'I was lucky to meet one.' The smile changed suddenly into a sneer. 'But you're not!'

'Why did you bring this creature?' demanded Krin. 'And why do you come here? Now? After all this time?'

Shawn gave an expression of mock surprise.

'Please!' he said. 'I know what you're trying to do.' He looked across to the ring on the floor. 'You must think it is going to work. This time!'

Hank "felt" the scowl on Krin's face rather than saw it, the anger in the Wizard was suddenly tangible as magic radiated out.

'I don't _think_ it will work. I know it will. And so does the Dungeonmaster!'

Shawn looked unimpressed, and Hank thought back to their Guide's words: "Krin may be able to send you home…". That wasn't exactly a glowing recommendation, even by Dungeonmaster's usual standards! As they had learned from Presto's Hat, magic didn't come with any guarantees.

There was another short silence before Shawn said:

'Well, are you going to tell me?'

Krin snorted.

'I'm leaving!' he replied. 'I won't stay for the Guild any more! And you can't make me!'

'But you couldn't have done it on your own,' said Shawn reasonably. 'Are you going to tell me? After all, I think we deserve some… small …part.'

The other Wizard snorted again and didn't reply, giving Hank the impression that "small part" was an understatement.

'The concerns of the Guild are no longer my concerns!' snapped Krin. 'I am no longer within its influence. I have found a new source.'

He turned to gaze at Diana, and even though his face was obscured by magic, Hank could feel the delight and the despair.

'A child?' asked Shawn.

'The "Child" of Light!'

Shawn made a scoffing noise.

'She CAN do it!' retorted Krin. 'All this time I've waited. But she came to me and she can help.'

Beside him, the Acrobat shifted uncertainly, but Shawn and his pet were too concerned with Krin to bother looking round.

'But you have told them? Haven't you?' asked Shawn. 'As the Pure of Heart, I'm sure they would like to know just how you got this far!'

It was Krin's turn to be stared at by the group. As Hank watched, Shawn gave another smirk, obviously enjoying Krin's discomfort.

'Tell us what?' asked Diana. But Shawn answered for him.

'This little machine of his is pieced together from parts of other people's work. Stolen pieces of work.'

'It doesn't matter how I built it anyway! But I didn't steal anything!'

'Rimush would disagree with you.'

'Leave him out of this,' hissed Krin. 'It was not his to begin with.'

'That's an interesting statement, considering how you got it!'

'I did not steal anything!' repeated Krin more loudly. 'But I have to get away.'

The Wizard turned to the face the kids, the magic swirling chaotically around. Hank could sense his pain and his frustration, and his fear. But he also understood more clearly why Dungeonmaster had been wary of giving them information: Krin was a desperate man, driven beyond rational behaviour by the magic that tormented him. Behind, Shawn's face grew suddenly harsh.

'But you brought all this on yourself!'

Krin swung round like a striking snake, magic streaming out behind him in a rainbow arc.

'You knew! You knew all the time what would happen!'

Shawn seemed unworried by the accusation, and idly ruffled the Manticore's mane once more.

'I had assumed you had the intelligence to understand the risks when I explained…'

'Explained!' growled Krin. 'You're a liar!'

Having spent a while with Shawn, Hank knew how unwilling the Wizard had been to explain anything, unless is was to his own advantage. He could easily imagine Shawn omitting certain vital information, if it suited him.

'Me? What kind of convenient lie did you tell them to get their help?' asked Shawn in a mocking tone.

'I told them the truth,' replied Krin.

'The truth? And she's going to help you after that,' scoffed Shawn. 'I don't think so! And no matter what you've done, I doubt that a mere child can…'

'You know nothing about it!' said Krin, his voice rising. 'She will follow her Star wherever it may lead. The burden in her heart is too heavy, the call of her home is too strong. For her, the portal will open, and I can be free!'

'Is it really that simple?' asked Shawn. 'I don't think it can be!'

Krin laughed.

'It is! It's ready! And I'll be free!'

The air of elation around Krin was unmistakable, but Hank was distinctly uneasy. There was something about this conversation that wasn't quite right. There was a cold, exultant gleam in Shawn's eye that hadn't been there a few seconds before.

'I don't need the Guild anymore!' said Krin.

The other Wizard looked amused by this statement.

'Really? Is that what you really think, Krin?'

'What do you know!' sneered the other Wizard. 'You've missed your chance this time! No matter how deep your lore, you've missed the opportunity to stop me!'

'I know a lot more than you think,' said Shawn, his voice suddenly quiet. 'And now, you're going to force me to take drastic action.' He looked at the kids once more. The Ranger's hand tightened round his useless Bow, but he looked back at the Wizard defiantly. Shawn wasn't going to scare them this time!

'You wouldn't dare!' said Krin with a short laugh. 'You know too much about them to try!'

Shawn shrugged.

'You think that the Dictates of Fate would stop me? But then, perhaps you're right; there are much more interesting possibilities for them. And you have forgotten the weakness I warned you about, all those years ago…'

Hank just had time to sense a flicker of confusion and fear from Krin before Shawn levelled the Staff at the other Wizard and a bolt of golden light shot out, slamming into Krin's chest and sending him sprawling backwards.

'…You talk too much,' said Shawn coldly.

A couple of seconds passed as Hank and the others stared in shock at the fallen Wizard. Diana finally broke the stillness and darted to his side, but Krin didn't move. Slowly, everyone turned back to the remaining Wizard.

Shawn laid a restraining hand on the Manticore that had stood patiently by his side as it turned to sniff in Krin's direction, it's eyes suddenly gleaming in anticipation of an easy lunch. The Wizard lowered his Staff.

'You've… you've… killed… him!' gasped Sheila.

'Maybe, but I doubt it,' said the Wizard with a shrug. 'We'll just have to wait and see if he's strong enough.' He looked keenly at the Thief. 'But I'm not interested in him anymore, I have the information I wanted.'

From beside Krin, Diana looked up, tears in her eyes.

'You don't care about what you've done? You don't care if he lives or dies?'

Again, Shawn shrugged, and Hank felt sick. He knew Shawn better than any of the others, but he found it hard to believe that he was capable of that level of heartlessness.

'You see, Acrobat, I'm a pragmatist,' Shawn explained with an unbearable grin. 'And sometimes I'm nice; and sometimes I'm nasty!'

The Ranger could find no instant reply, but the Cavalier pushed past him.

'Oh, yeah?' retorted Eric. 'And sometimes you like to sing songs about Goblins!'

There was a shocked pause, then Hank heard Bobby snigger. Eric was glaring at Shawn with an expression of contempt, and Hank was suddenly very cold. He'd seen that expression before, and very recently, too!

Here we go again… 

This was the last straw. It was all very well for the Cavalier to be a little out of sorts after the Trogs, and picking a fight with a group of thugs might be his kind of "therapy"; but picking a fight with a Wizard, an obviously powerful Wizard who had just taken down one of his own kind without a second thought, was going beyond the realms of even Cavalier-level stupidity!

And Hank was just sick of it! Totally, and utterly sick of it!

How was he supposed to lead them, to get them home, with Eric behaving like a one-man-army? He'd never been a violent person; he'd always run from trouble. What had gotten into him? Ever since the Trog Lair…

A cold, prickly feeling crept down Hanks' spine: Ever since the Trog's Lair he'd been different. They'd never gotten a straight answer about what had ACTUALLY happened.

But it was too late to worry, as Shawn slowly lifted the Staff and pointed it in the Cavalier's face. The two stared at each other. When Shawn finally found his voice it was thick with malevolence.

'You! What do you know! You're nothing! You've failed in everything you've tried to do! I know. I can see.' Shawn's expression changed to a smirk, the mirror of the Cavalier's own and he took a step forward. 'You don't have to tell me. You can't hide it, I can see it inside you! You didn't really think you could hide something like that from ME, did you?' Eric flinched and Shawn advanced on the shocked Cavalier, his eyes bright with malicious pleasure. 'You're weak! And you're afraid!'

Hank couldn't understand what they were talking about, but obviously Shawn knew something the others didn't. All of his friends were staring at the Cavalier, looking as confused as Hank felt.

And then Shawn smiled, one of the most unpleasant smiles Hank had ever seen.

'The Dungeonmaster has been proved wrong before; many, many times. You had nothing to tell us! Even that fool you call a Magician was more use than you!' Shawn turned to Presto, the smile wider than ever.

'You are not worthy of the title, Magician! And you too are afraid, afraid of your own weapon! Afraid of a Hat!' Presto muttered something incomprehensible, but pulled the Hat off his head, and held it tightly to his chest.

Shawn looked between the two boys. Even from the sidelines, Hank could feel the malevolent magic as the Wizard spoke.

'And you should know, Magician, that even if this Cavalier is too weak and cowardly to use it, his power will ALWAYS surpass yours!'

Eric turned redder, and looked round at the Magician in shock. Presto, for his part, just stared back.

Hank didn't know what to say, as the two boys looked at each other in fear and surprise. But out of the corner of his eye, he caught the smile of pure delight on Shawn's face.

'Stop!' he blurted out. 'Leave them alone!'

Shawn slowly looked round at the Ranger.

'What did you say?'

Suddenly with Shawn's full attention on him, Hank felt the full weight of magic on him. He could hardly breathe, let alone reply.

'Have you lost your voice, Ranger?'

'Leave… them … alone…'

How, he managed to get the words out, he couldn't tell. But now he had, he felt stronger. Shawn looked surprised.

'You're not going to try and stop me? Are you?'

Hank forced himself to nod.

'But you have no more power, Ranger. No power. No weapons!'

Hank glanced down at the Bow, knowing full well that Shawn was right. What could they do without their weapons? He lifted it, reaching across to pull an arrow. Nothing happened.

'Well, it seems they don't seem make magic Bows the way they used to,' Shawn said with a mirthless smile. 'Do you still think you can stop me?'

Knowing his Bow was useless, knowing how powerful the Wizard was, Hank still nodded again.

'We will stop you!' he said, his voice shaking only a little.

'You really think you can?' snarled the Wizard. 'I can crush you! I can rip out your heart and soul and leave nothing but a pure, empty shell!' Shawn's expression was one of fury. 'How dare you presume to think you are a match for ME!'

Hank shivered, suddenly regretting his words. After all, what could they do without their weapons?

'So, you have no reply this time, Ranger?' sneered Shawn. 'What a shining example to your friends! No wonder you will never get home!'

Behind him, someone gasped, but Hank couldn't stop staring at the Wizard. What did he mean "never get home"? What did he know? Some part of the Ranger tried to stay confident, but it wasn't going to work.

'I have looked into the Void of Past and Future, and you'll never get home! Not if I have anything to do with it!' Despair swelled up through Hank, but Shawn hadn't finished. 'You've failed them before, Ranger! You will fail them again!' He tried to speak, to challenge those words, but his voice wasn't working. 'They don't believe in you anymore, they can't even defend their leader!'

He looked round to the others. Shawn was right; none of them had said a word. He'd lead them to Kilan, he'd urged them to find the Guild in the first place, it was his decisions that had brought them to this place. He'd let them all down, now none of them thought he was up to the job of leader, not any more. Not even Sheila…

_Not even Sheila._ He'd failed her, most of all. How could she love him, after all he'd put her through?

And through the paralysing fog of despair and shame, he thought he heard the Wizard laughing.

* * *

Diana was still kneeling by Krin, but she saw Hank turn pale, the firm grip on his Bow starting to slip. Shawn was laughing, a high-pitched ringing laughter that was going to give her a headache. Beside him the Manticore licked its lips, still eyeing the prone Wizard beside her.

Having decided that the Ranger was obviously not going to challenge him further, Shawn looked down at her with an air of mocking finality.

'So, Child of Light. You are the key, are you?'

Listening to the insults Shawn had used on the others, she had realised that the Wizard took great delight in tormenting them with their worst fears and paranoia. Maybe it was magic, but more likely it was just that Shawn was just very good at it. Steeling herself, Diana chose not to reply. Apart from the fact she had no idea what either Wizard had been talking about, she was not going to do anything to help Shawn. Especially not if he was gonna call her by that title!

She stood, and waited, thinking about Dungeonmaster's words: _Everything has a price_; but what would the price be this time?

The Wizard finally spoke again.

'You are strong,' he said. 'And I would expect nothing less from you, Child of Light, considering the great sacrifices you made in the Temple of Light. But there is only so far you can go.' She was finding it harder to breathe, every time he spoke it was more difficult to respond rationally. He seemed to know exactly what to say.

'I know about Turad,' continued the Wizard, 'all about it, Child of Light. I know of your choice.' The Wizard paused, with a nasty little smirk on his face. 'What was it the old man told you? "To choose between home and the heart"? Are you really going to put your own selfish need above those of your friends? Again?'

For a second she couldn't move, and Diana just stared in shock at the Wizard in front of her. Her mind was filled with those few final moments she'd shared with Kosar, the tremendous feeling of love and closeness, mirrored in equal measure by pain as they were ripped apart, perhaps forever. But there was something more this time, maybe something she hadn't wanted to see before. She could remember lying there on the ground as the bells of celebration rang through the city, she had looked up at the others knowing full well that, as well as losing her one true love, she had let the portal close. But there was no look of reproach from her friends, far from it; they were proud of her. They understood what she had done. They understood!

She lifted her head defiantly.

'You'll have… to do better… than that!' she said.

A flash of confusion and fury passed over Shawn's face, and he lifted the Staff.  
'Perhaps, then, it is better to just destroy you, now!'

He didn't want to, she could see that. For some reason, he believed she did have the power to open a portal, using Krin's machine. She glanced down at her Javelin, knowing she couldn't win against Shawn, not directly. But she wasn't gonna go down without a fight.

She'd seen how he'd reacted to the Cavalier's taunt earlier. In those few seconds, Diana understood: Shawn was afraid of them. He enjoyed manipulating and tormenting them because that was all he dared do! Well, two could play at that game!

'You can try,' she replied, 'but I think you're too old and slow!'

It wasn't the greatest comeback in the world. Perhaps if she'd had less to worry about, she could have come up with a punchier line. Nevertheless, it had the desired effect. Only incoherent spluttering came from the Wizard.

Diana smiled.

But Shawn wasn't the one who retaliated. The creature by his side moved suddenly, letting loose a volley of barbs; Diana just managed to twist out of the way in time. Hank, Bobby and Sheila were unharmed too. But one of the bolts had just clipped the side of Eric's cape and another two were stuck in the front of the Shield, directly in front of the shocked-looking Magician.

As relieved as she was that Presto was OK, she couldn't help but wonder how Eric had gotten there so fast; he'd been standing a couple of feet away at least, just before the Manticore moved to attack. Glancing at the two boys, she saw the look of total surprise on Eric's face; he was looking at the Shield! For barely a second she stared too, before realising what had happened; the Shield had done it all by itself!

But now, far from looking grateful, the Magician looked like he'd just been stabbed in the back!

A low hiss front Manticore stopped her from wondering more. Annoyed it had missed them all, it was looking round at the group, picking its next target.

Its gaze stopped on the Thief.

Reacting out of habit rather than good sense, Sheila pulled the hood up, but didn't disappear. Instead, there was a flash of light and she changed; into another version of Shawn, identical in every way except she was smaller and had no Staff.

The Manticore paused in its attack, looking between the two matching Wizards with an air of great suspicion.

So Diana moved forward, taking advantage of the pause to get into a better position. Hank was trying ineffectually to pull an arrow. Little golden sparks danced down the handle, but that was all. He looked angry, and frustrated, and close to just throwing the Bow at the creature. Beside him, Sheila had realised the Manticore wasn't gonna stay fooled for much longer, and pulled the Cloak back, changing back into her normal self.

In the lull that followed, Shawn gave them a slow, ironic round of applause. Disappointment and fury welled up inside the Acrobat. This wasn't fair! With the protection of the Manticore, and his own magic, he couldn't be stopped, as there was nothing they could do against this Wizard with their faulty weapons. The Javelin was locked seven inches long; the Cloak had developed a malicious sense of humour; the Bow was more like a welding lance than a weapon; the Club kept missing the target, the Shield had gone into Protection-Only mode and the Hat…

She stopped.

Presto hadn't tried the Hat yet. Maybe it was now working better than it had before. Maybe it could give them some advantage over Shawn. They needed anything they could get!

She glanced round, seeing from the expression on Hank's face that he thought the same as she did.

Presto seemed to guess what they were thinking, and looked from Hank to Diana to the Hat, the colour draining from his face. She'd had no idea the thought of using the Hat would be so hateful; he'd used it earlier, to magic up the payment for the Guard at the gate. Why was it gonna be so different now?

All eyes were on him, including Shawn's, and that answered her question for her.

'Presto,' said Hank as reassuringly as he could. 'Presto you've gotta try!'

_Please try, Presto. Wipe that smug smile of Shawn's face!_

The Magician lifted the Hat, in spite of the unpleasant sniggering from their opponent.

'Magic Hat I need your help…' he paused, and the sniggering grew. It looked like he couldn't speak to finish the rhyme.

C'mon, Presto! You can do it! 

A slight movement to the left suddenly attracted her attention. The Manticore was shuffling sideways, away from Shawn. It was trying to get to Krin as he lay unconscious! She had been so concerned with Shawn, she had forgotten about the other Wizard!

But before she could move, Uni dashed forward, followed by the inevitable howl from the Barbarian, who followed. The unicorn glared at the other creature and, strangely, the Manticore took one look at her and stopped. Behind Uni, Bobby stood brandishing the Club with an angry scowl on his face.

It took a small step back, then a larger one, then it turned tail and retreated out of the door.

At the time, it seemed odd to Diana that something so well-armed should be afraid of the two smallest of them, but she was too distracted to think more about it.

Shawn looked after the creature, contempt on his face.

'Hired help! It's always the same!' he hissed. 'If you want a job done properly, killed the hired help before you start!'

He looked back to the group.

'So, Magician?' he said. 'Aren't you going to finish?'

It seemed to be too much for Presto. He narrowed his eyes.

'Hat, just… do…something!'

The Hat glowed, but nothing else happened and Shawn began to laugh at the Magician's crestfallen expression. How sick of that laugh she'd become, and she'd only been around the Wizard for a few minutes!

Casually, Shawn lifted the Staff, and muttered a few words, and Diana braced herself for the incoming bolt of magic, vaguely hoping that the Shield and its wielder were still paying attention.

But, from her left, there was a flash of green lightning from the Hat that knocked the Staff out of Shawn's hand. It hit the ground with a resounding clang and the Wizard stumbled to the ground, clutching his arm.

She'd expected Shawn to be up on his feet again instantly, but something was happening. Without the Staff, he seemed to be loosing strength much faster. Weakly, he reached out to try and get it back, but there was a terrible rumble of thunder and the building began to shake. Looking to the floor under the Staff, a small puddle of molten gold was slowly forming, with thin wisps of steam lifting off its surface.

There was a gasp from the Wizard on the floor.

'You! You broke my Staff! My Magic…'

It wasn't shock or anger in his tone. It was fear.

The floor gave a wrenching shudder, the stones under their feet bucking and cracking, and only Diana was able to keep upright. She looked round at the others as they sprawled on the ground, and reached out to Hank, who was the nearest to her. But even as she turned, she could see the golden liquid flowing as if it had a purpose; towards Krin's machine.

Then she felt it.

_Power._

Inside, it was lifting her up, wrapping her in white light, sending waves of magic all through her body. She felt like she could do anything.

She had felt like this once before. Time hadn't dimmed the memory of that day in Turad. Nothing ever would. But still, she was confused. How could this have happened? Why was she feeling like this?

The feeling couldn't be ignored and everything else faded out. She couldn't even see what had happened to her friends, and was dimly aware of shouting, and the splintering of stone.

In her mind, the wheel of Time stopped and locked on to the Amusement Park, the same day they left. They could go back, without anyone knowing they'd even gone. They could go back to the place and time they were, before they'd come to this hateful place. The price didn't matter. They could go home.

They should go home.

_Yes._

_Home._

_Now…_

She tried to step forward, but something grabbed her arm firmly, making her stop. She turned, to find Hank looked deeply into her eyes and he had to shout to make himself heard over the sound of crunching building.

'Diana! No!'

How could she explain, she had to send them home. She owed them that. It didn't matter what else happened.

'Diana, it's already to late.'

He wasn't making sense.

'It's already broken,' he told her.

She had to try, regardless; she had to. Surely Hank, of all people would understand.

She still paused.

'Diana! Please… it's gone.'

Where it was the words, or the sight of Hank's concerned smile, it was impossible to say, but the feeling left as quickly as it had come. She finally managed to glance to the ground. Hank was right; there was almost nothing left of Krin's machine, it was half-buried by the falling masonry. They were almost the only ones left inside. And if they stayed much longer, they were gonna get squished. The house was going to shake itself apart.

The Ranger pointed to the floor. Krin was still lying there, just beside her and she helped Hank lift him off the ground, and together they staggered out of the building.

There was a sickening thud from behind. Hank didn't look back, but Diana flicked a last glance back over her shoulder to the machine. She could still see Shawn's broken Staff lying where it had fallen, the floor beside it slick with molten gold. The ring was smashed in two, a large chunk missing out of one side. Bits of roofing were lying over it, and all the carefully laid magic items were strewn about.

But the centre of the ring was no longer grey floor. It looked like a distorted mirror, and the images the surface reflected changed to quickly for her to understand. She saw her homeworld, her house and family, her friends, in a swirling kaleidoscope of past, present and future. She could feel Darkness, and danger, but couldn't make sense of the images. Abruptly, they stopped and the far wall made a low groaning noise. Hank was pulling Krin faster.

'Diana! Run!'

With all her strength, she moved as quickly as she could, and they reached the doorway just as the wall collapsed, sending a huge billow of dust round them. They ran forward to their friends. Coughing, Diana looked back at the huge crater were the building had been. They were all safe. But more than that, she could feel the change. The magic of the Guild was gone. Quite how they had managed it, she wasn't sure.

'Wow,' said the Barbarian. 'Never seen anything that could do THAT before! It was cool!'

Beside her, there was a movement, and a thin, young man with a narrow face and dirty blonde hair push himself upright. It was Krin, but not as Diana expected to see him. The magic had gone from him too. She couldn't help but stare.

'Thank you,' said the ex-Wizard. 'How can I ever thank you enough?'

The Ranger shook his hand with a grin.

'It's ok,' he said. 'We weren't going to leave you behind!'

'That wasn't what I meant,' replied Krin. He looked down at himself. 'Maybe I should have stuck to Alchemy.' He looked back to the crater and sighed. 'Now all my work has gone along with the magic of the Guild, and I'll have to start from the beginning.'

'Good job you got out' said Presto, looking between Hank and Diana, and giving the Acrobat an inquisitive stare. 'What were you doing?'

Not understanding what he meant, she frowned. Surely they had seen what had happened to her? A nasty quip formed in her mind, but the innocent look on his face stopped it from going further. _They didn't know._ Only Hank had realised what had happened to her. It made her glad, Hank knew her the best. But the way Krin was looking at her made her wonder if he had guessed too.

'Hey look, my Club works!' said Bobby suddenly, rousing Diana from her thoughts. The young Barbarian was swinging the weapon back and forth, a familiar glow around it. One by one the others all checked their own weapons, and were relieved to find them all back in working order.

'At least that's one thing we don't have to worry about any more,' said Hank. 'I don't know what you guys think, but…'

'Well, since you asked,' interrupted Eric, 'I think we should never have trusted anyone with a Staff!'

That the Cavalier had finally rediscovered his mouth came as a surprise. _But is this good or bad? _wondered Diana with a covert smile. Hank's change of expression suggested he thought it was the latter. But his reply never came.

'Greetings my Pupils!' said a voice to the left. 'And greetings to you, Krin!'

'Dungeonmaster!'

As tactful as ever, the old man appeared walking through the dust, and he bowed.

'I am pleased you are all safe, my young Pupils. The collapse of the portal into the Void was most explosive, it would seem. And the magic held by the Guild is returned to its rightful place.'

'What do you mean "returned"?' asked Sheila.

'The Guild was a great source of Magic, too much magic. It affected everything that came into contact with, such as your weapons, and it grew too powerful, and too dangerous. But the danger has now passed.'

They looked at the shattered house behind them in silence, until Bobby piped up:

'Say, what happened to Shawn?'

Hank shrugged.

'I didn't see him as we left. Guess we'll never know.'

'Well, whatever it is, I hope it's not pleasant,' said Eric firmly. 'And I'm not volunteering for the search party! Let's just go!'

'Your Cavalier is right,' said Dungeonmaster abruptly, before the Ranger could speak. 'I suggest you leave. Throughout Kilan there will be turmoil as the people discover what has happened here. The loss of Shawn and his magic, and the demise of the Guild will have far reaching repercussions here.'

The old man looked nervous, something that Diana found very odd. She glanced at Hank.

'I suppose if the Guild controlled the City, and the Guild is gone, then…' he stopped. Now he was looking nervous too!

Dungeonmaster turned to Krin, who shook his head.

'No, I must stay. This is my home, after all…'

'They will have need of you,' Dungeonmaster replied. 'I am glad you choose to stay.'

Krin gave a sigh.

'And I suppose I should look for that Manticore,' he said. 'Can't let one of those loose round the Cityport!'

'But why did the Manticore just run in the first place?' asked Bobby.

Dungeonmaster smiled in his usual cryptic fashion and looked at Krin, who replied:

'I think the creature was promised an easy lunch, not a stand-up fight! And they're not the most loyal of animals.'

'But Dungeonmaster…' started Bobby. But he'd gone.

'Typical,' muttered the Cavalier.

'Suppose we should go too,' said Hank. He turned back to Krin and they shook hands once again.

'Good luck in your journey,' said the ex-Wizard. 'I'm sure we will meet once more, perhaps if I ever managed to salvage my portal machine.'

'But we won't hold our breath,' added Eric.

Krin gave a resigned smile and nodded.

'Goodbye, my friends.'

They took one more look at the place were the portal had been, then turned away, walking down the road towards the far wall of the Cityport. At first, Diana walked alone, then Presto came up beside her as they headed past the harbour, and they walked in silence.

With a heavy heart, she followed the others though one of the gates, the noise of shouting (and singing) drifting up from the streets behind them. Diana noticed Presto watching her, and smiled.

'So, do you think you could have done it, Diana?' he asked eventually. 'You know, open a portal and gotten us all home? Would you?'

Thinking back to the ring, she just shrugged and replied:

'I don't know.'

But as she looked round at her friends; Sheila and her brother, their heads bowed slightly as the walked next to the tired-looking Ranger; Eric, walking behind them in frosty silence once more, and finally Presto himself, the hopeful gleam gone from his eye, she knew what the truthful answer would have been.

_Yes, Presto. Yes I would!_

The End.

* * *

Next: Dragon-hunting Season.

While waiting for Dungeonmaster, the kids run across a group of mercenaries intent on capturing dragons for their Master. And their next target: Tiamat herself!

Author's notes.

On Quotes. (or spot the Blackadder references)

"You don't have to talk to me like that, I'm not a tourist"

"Sometimes I'm nice, sometimes I'm nasty, and sometimes I like to sing a song about goblins."

… not to mention Bob (also known as Kate) and Mrs Miggins, who owns that pie shop.

'If you want a job done properly, killed the hired help before you start!' is actually a misquotation, since I couldn't justify the Manticore being called Baldrick.

(And a big "Ta very much, luv…" to Random Scribbles for not picking really difficult quotes!)

On Weapons.

Sheila's change to Venger was inspired by a conversation with my friends RK and RS. The behaviour of the Shield was taken from the original Series Bible, where it had an extra property of levitation.


End file.
